BRAC lawyer raises questions about base recommendations

By TOM PARSONS
Associated Press Writer

August 13, 2005, 4:34 PM EDT

LITTLE ROCK -- A lawyer for the federal commission that will make final recommendations to Congress on military base closings and expansions has raised legal and economic concerns with the process.

Dan Cowhig, deputy general counsel for the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, says in a memorandum released Friday by BRAC, that the Pentagon recommendations, if written into law, might hinder the military's future management of its installations. Also, he said some proposals might not need to go through the costly base-realignment process.

Under the Base Closure Act of 1990, the BRAC Commission is to make final recommendations to Congress, which then must either accept or reject the proposal in its entirety. Acceptance of the BRAC recommendations would result in a federal law.

Cowhig said the result could be "the creation of a statutory requirement to base certain aircraft in specific locations," for instance.

To illustrate his point, he cites a Pentagon recommendation to move eight C-130H cargo aircraft from Niagara Falls, N.Y., to the Little Rock Air Force Base and move other aircraft at Niagara Falls to other bases. In all, the Arkansas air base would get 74 C-130s from other bases and gain 3,898 people.

But legislating such specifics "will place significant constraints on the future operations of the Air Force," he said in the memo.

Cowhig noted that the previous BRAC commission, in 1995, removed "similar mandatory language ... (that was) considerably less detailed."

Also in the July 14 memo, Cowhig said the recommendations might exceed the authority granted the commission under the 1990 law and he raised the possibility that some of the proposed changes could be carried out by the Pentagon without going through the expensive and time-consuming base-realignment process.

The memo said several of the Pentagon recommendations "do not contain a single element that would require the authority of the Base Closure Act," citing as an illustration a recommendation to move four C-130 aircraft from Schenectady, N.Y., to the Arkansas air base.

The memo cites the move of the eight C-130H's from Niagara Falls to Arkansas, as well as recommended relocation of eight KC-135R refueling tankers from Niagara Falls to Bangor, Maine, and the retirement of eight KC-135E aircraft.

"The Department of Defense does not require the authority of the (Base Closure) Act to move groups of eight aircraft, or retire groups of eight aircraft," the memo said. "The time and resource-intensive process required by the Base Closure Act is not necessary to implement these actions. The Air Force could carry out these actions on its own existing authority."

The memo apparently was intended to alert commission members to matters "that are of legal and policy concern to the commission" as members decide what the final recommendations will be.

Other questions raised dealt with use of the BRAC process to make changes in how a unit is equipped or organized; changes to the organization or location of an Air National Guard unit; retiring aircraft "whose retirement has been barred by statute"; and the transfer of aircraft from one state's Air Guard to the Air Guard of another state.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., had no comment on the memo because she hasn't seen it yet, a spokeswoman for her office said Saturday. Sen. Mark Pryor and Rep. Vic Snyder, both D-Ark., could not be reached for comment. Snyder's district includes the Little Rock air base.