Evidence grows that Otis closure may violate law

As it gets closer to September when the Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission is expected to issue its report on base closings to President George W. Bush, the number of holes in the Pentagon recommendations are increasing.

The most significant hole involves the closure recommendation for Otis Air National Guard Base and two dozen other Air National Guard units around the country.

The deputy general counsel for BRAC has written an internal memo stating that it may be illegal for the commission to shift Air Guard units without the consent of Congress. And governors from two states slated to lose Air Guard units, Pennsylvania and Illinois, have filed suit in federal court contending that states' rights would be violated by the closure or realignment of units without state consent. Air Guard units come under joint state and national control.

Although he is on record against the closure of Otis and realignment of its 102nd Fighter Wing, Gov. Romney should consider joining with the governors of Illinois and Pennsylvania in this important lawsuit aimed at stopping the Air Guard closures.

The closure of Otis would also hurt the Coast Guard's ability to operate from the shared base on Cape Cod. This in turn would endanger New Bedford's and New England's entire fishing fleet, which depends on the Coast Guard for life-sustaining search-and-rescue missions on the high seas.

Another major hole was revealed recently when several analysts reported that the Pentagon had underestimated the costs of closing several bases and overestimated savings.

But the most significant flaw in the recommendation about Otis is that it ignores the importance of the Air Guard for homeland security in one of the most populated, coastally exposed areas of the country.

Otis is what one Base Realignment and Closure commissioner called the fighter unit on "the doorstep to the Atlantic." It makes no sense to eliminate our easternmost sentry.