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Prepare ample welcome mat
for aircraft carrier

THE ISSUE A congressional commission is recommending an additional aircraft carrier be berthed in the Pacific, probably at Pearl Harbor.

PLANS for increased military housing on Oahu will need to be expanded to prepare for what is likely to be the stationing of a Navy aircraft carrier at Pearl Harbor, a welcome addition to Hawaii's economic revitalization. The shift of such a carrier from a mainland harbor to Hawaii appears to be destined, and the Pentagon should heed the advice of an independent commission that preparations be completed in advance.

A commission created by last year's military construction appropriations law recommends that an additional aircraft carrier be assigned to Pacific waters and cites Hawaii as "a likely location." The commission's report was assigned to assess the Defense Department's plans to shift troop basing to adapt to the end of the Cold War and the rise of other threats.

The Pentagon wants to complete the troop realignment by 2011, but the commission said it "finds no imperative for doing all of this in the short span of time now planned." It warns that tens of thousands of troops should not be relocated "before we have programmed the budgetary outlays to accommodate their arrival and before local communities are able to prepare services for population expansion."

Ambitious construction projects have begun to replace military housing on Oahu dating from World War II, and the stationing of an aircraft carrier in Hawaii would add to the landscape. Senator Inouye appears to have won the argument that the carrier be stationed at Pearl Harbor instead of Guam, which has been lobbying for it.

Unlike Guam, Inouye says, Hawaii already has the infrastructure in place to support a carrier group. "With Guam you would need to build highways and more schools and health facilities. It would be like starting from scratch."

The presence of an infrastructure does not mean the carrier should arrive tomorrow. A carrier would bring with it a crew of 3,000 sailors and an equal number of aviators and support personnel -- with a payroll of $126 million -- in addition to their families, to an island with housing and teacher shortages. The Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii estimated seven years ago that the berthing would bring $375 million a year and 4,200 civilian jobs to a state that is now at full employment.

An aircraft carrier based in Hawaii would deter military threats or "provide the flexibility and speed of reaction" to those that still might emerge, the commission said. "But the economic consequences for basing in Hawaii would be significant, even if it entails major political and economic impact in its wake" on the mainland. "The calculations of such expenses -- and the political will to bear them -- can only come with strong congressional oversight and the wider public discussion that follows."

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