AUGUSTA – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is warning he will recommend the president veto a defense spending bill if Congress does not include another round of base closings in the measure. That has members of the state’s congressional delegation concerned and Gov. Angus King worried that both the Brunswick Naval Air Station and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery could be targets.

“They both went through exhaustive analysis by the BRAC [Base Realignment and Closure] Commission process in 1995,” King said. “We made the case then and if we have to, we will make the case again.”

Because of the potential statewide economic impact, King created a task force in 1995 to deal with the base closing process. The state paid for consultants and provided formal testimony during that round of base closing hearings.

“If there is another round, we will do it again,” he said. “This is just too important not to.”

State Economist Laurie LaChance said the state would be hard hit if either base were shut down. She said that when Loring Air Force Base in Limestone was closed a decade ago the impact was felt all the way to York County.

“If Portsmouth or Brunswick were to be closed, the impact would be very significant and would be felt all over the state,” she said.

Last spring, a study indicated just how important defense spending is to Maine’s economy. Defense Department domestic spending, which includes procurement contracts, payroll, military pensions and grants, totaled $1.303 billion in Maine last year, up from $1.275 billion in 1999.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery has about 4,200 workers. Brunswick Naval Air Station employs nearly 5,000 people.

Rumsfeld, in letters to the leaders of both the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, said the defense appropriations measure must include “the authority to begin a fair, objective and systematic process of reviewing our base structure.” He said there are too many bases and that the savings from closing unnecessary facilities are required to pay for other defense needs.

“I don’t believe we should be considering the closure of additional military bases,” said Sen. Olympia Snowe, the only member of Maine’s congressional delegation to serve during both previous rounds of base closings. “Before we legislate defensewide policy that will reduce the size and number of training areas critical to our force readiness, the Department of Defense ought to tell us – through a comprehensive plan – the level of operational and maintenance infrastructure required to support our shifting national security requirements.”

The Republican said the Pentagon is still scrambling to define what military forces and bases are needed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Snowe hopes that a joint committee of members from the Senate and House, which is reviewing the defense appropriations bill, will reject another base closing process as part of the legislation. So does U.S. Rep. Tom Allen.

“I can’t believe the president would veto the bill, even if Secretary Rumsfeld asked him to,” the Maine Democrat said. “There are too many important provisions in the bill.”

Allen, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said that if Rumsfeld has concluded certain bases are not needed, he should propose those facilities be closed. He said there may well be bases that should be closed, but the BRAC process is not the way to proceed.

Under the BRAC process of the 1990s, every base and military facility was reviewed for its mission and its effectiveness in meeting that mission. The process had been established by Congress because lawmakers had not been able to eliminate any base through the usual budget writing process. Under BRAC, Congress could only accept or reject what was proposed by the commission as a package. Since 1988, the BRAC process has closed a total of 97 major bases across the United States.

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, agrees with Allen that it is unlikely President Bush would go along with Rumsfeld’s recommendation, but said the threat from Rumsfeld is reason for concern. She is serving on the conference committee between the House and Senate, and said the lawmakers have yet to take up the issue of base closings.

She has argued before that the BRAC process falls short of its intended goal, and, in fact, politicizes a process that is meant to be independent and unbiased.

“I have recommended that any bases we need to close be made part of the president’s budget proposal,” she said. “The base closing process in the past has been very unfair to every community across the country with a military base and I do not want to see that again.”

U.S. Rep. John Baldacci, D-Maine, said he shares the concern that Rumsfeld is trying to push for further base closings this late in the session. He said that with only a few weeks remaining in the session, the war on terrorism and the issue of homeland security should be at the top of Rumsfeld’s agenda.

“I can’t believe he is pushing this at a time when we are in a war,” he said. “We don’t know what we need for bases and facilities in this new kind of warfare. I have had some people talk to me about whether we need to reopen some of the bases that were closed in the past.”

King said he hoped the conference committee rejects Rumsfeld’s effort and defers the base closing issue until next year. Members of the state congressional delegation agree, but are worried that in the push to reach an agreement, some base-closing proposal could be included in the legislation.