News

DOD info flow still going slow
By Celeste Calvitto, Journal Staff Writer

There was good news and bad news Monday in the latest push to extract information from the Department of Defense on the reasoning behind its proposed list of bases to close, including Ellsworth Air Force Base.

Under subpoena from two U.S. senators, the DOD released more documents over the weekend. That response led to a reprieve for the DOD from the subpoena's Monday deadline to produce everything.

"The Defense Department has agreed to produce additional documents throughout next week and to finish responding to our subpoena by Friday. In the spirit of this commitment and assuming continued production throughout the week, we have agreed to extend the deadline to Friday at noon," Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and Sen. Joe Lieberman, D- Conn., said Monday in a news release. Collins is chairman, and Lieberman is ranking member of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.

The bad news: That's mere days before the June 21 Base Realignment and Closure Commission regional hearing in Rapid City, when the Ellsworth Task Force and South Dakota's congressional delegation will be making the case to remove Ellsworth from the DOD closure list.

"It is intolerable that Congress was forced to issue subpoenas in order to compel the Defense Department to release additional base closure data," Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said Monday. "If the BRAC process is to be fair and transparent, local communities must have access to all information that does not compromise our national security."

Documents containing the reasoning for the Pentagon's recommendations have been released in stages over the past month because some of the information had to be declassified. The information released over the weekend, which was covered under the subpoena also includes documents relating to the Pentagon's requests to military installations for data and the installations' responses to those requests.

Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said: "The Defense Department's failure to anticipate the need to declassify the BRAC data well in advance, when they have had 21/2 years to plan and prepare for this BRAC round, has been inexcusable. This is vital information our communities need to analyze and challenge the Pentagon's recommendations," he said. "Considering the damage already done with these delays in releasing the data, I believe that legislation postponing this BRAC round looks more reasonable with each passing day."

Shortly after the May 13 announcement of the DOD list, Thune introduced legislation to delay base closings until recommendations on overseas base closings are analyzed, the Quadrennial Defense Review, or QDR, is received, and "substantially all major combat units" deployed in Iraq have returned. The measure was co-sponsored by Johnson and 16 other senators.

In another development Monday, Thune and Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld seeking permission for "any member of the Armed Forces to freely answer questions ... as to the military value of any military installation" and seeking assurance "that no member of the Armed Forces may be discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or in any other manner discriminated against" for providing information to the BRAC Commission. Similar assurances are sought for civilian employees of military installations.

Thune said there is a fear that the DOD will get a "head start" on closing or realigning bases before the BRAC process runs its course.

"It would be perceived as a slap to the BRAC Commission and all the communities who intend to defend their installations if the Pentagon opts to treat their recommendations as foregone conclusions," Thune said. "Likewise, the BRAC commissioners should be able to ask questions and receive a free response from servicemen and women during their site visits and hearings to ensure they hear views of actual military operators on the installations - not just budget analysts working from within the Pentagon."

Thune has also introduced legislation allowing uniformed personnel to testify at BRAC hearings without repercussions. It currently has 10 co-sponsors.

Lawmakers from states with military installations on the list have complained that the sporadic release of DOD information on the rationale for the closings puts communities at a disadvantage as they fight the recommendations. One BRAC hearing was postponed, and another has been canceled as a result of the slow release of data.

Seeking a postponement of the Rapid City hearing was briefly considered by the Ellsworth Task Force and the congressional delegation, but it was determined that the value of having the hearing on home turf would be more crucial than extra time for consultants to review DOD documents.

Three members of the BRAC commission will be in Rapid City for the regional hearing. It is scheduled from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 21, at Rushmore Plaza Civic Center. The Ellsworth Task Force, which is hoping for a crowd of thousands to show support for the base, is encouraging people to get there by noon.

Contact Celeste Calvitto at 394-8438 or celeste.calvitto@rapidcityjournal.com