News

Thune considers lawsuit over data delay
By Bill Harlan, Journal Staff Writer

RAPID CITY - If the Pentagon doesn't deliver base-closing data soon, the issue could land in court, Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Wednesday.

"I'm going to have some discussions with some fellows about legal action or some sort of injunctive relief," Thune told reporters crammed into the small reception area of his Rapid City field office.

The South Dakota Republican was in Rapid City for a planning session with the Ellsworth Task Force — a group of government and business leaders who hope to rescue Ellsworth Air Force Base from the Pentagon's closing list.

The Defense Department announced its recommended base closings May 13. Thune said that by failing to release data supporting those recommendations, the Pentagon may have violated the 2001 Base Realignment and Closure law.

The Defense Department says classified data must first be purged from the list.

Thune said the purge should have been done before the list was released. The delay was "unconscionable," he said. "They've been working on this for years."

The independent Base Realignment and Closure Commission, convened last month, can add or remove bases from the list. The commission will study the Pentagon's list, along with the data that military planners used to assign military-value scores to each base.

The commission also will visit bases and affected communities.

Rapid City has been chosen for a regional BRAC hearing, which will be June 21. "We are hoping the people of this area come out in large numbers to show support for Ellsworth Air Force Base," Thune said.

But Thune and other senators — such as Olympia Snowe of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska — also complained that, without the data justifying the Pentagon's recommendations, communities could not mount effective defenses of their bases.

"There are members of Congress who are very exercised about this," Thune said.

Thune has sponsored legislation to force the Pentagon to release the data. He admitted that congressional delegations from states without bases on the base-closing list are "less inclined to be part of this effort," but he added that "the boil" was "moving outside the BRAC states."

President Bush recently spoke in support of the Pentagon's list.

Thune ran against Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle last fall at the president's urging. During the campaign, Thune said he would be more likely to "have the president's ear" when it came to base closings.

Asked on Wednesday if he felt betrayed, Thune said, "These decisions were made by groups of military analysts at the Pentagon." But he then said, "Yeah, I'm upset with the handling of the process."

Thune wouldn't say whether he had talked to the president personally about the lack of data from the Pentagon — or whether he had talked to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld or to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. "We've had discussions with folks," he said.

Thune said the Pentagon told him more data would be released Friday. "On Friday, there's got to be some sizable downloading of information, or the heat is going to be ratcheted up in Congress," Thune said.

When the BRAC Commission submits its revised closing list to the White House in September, the president can ask for revisions.

After the commission makes its final recommendations, the president and Congress can only accept or reject the list in its entirety.

Contact Bill Harlan at 394-8424 or bill.harlan@rapidcityjournal.com