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Base closure report
reflects Hawaii’s
importance

THE ISSUE A commission on military base closures has left Hawaii's 83 major installation nearly untouched.

HAWAII will go virtually unscathed if the Pentagon's recommendations for the closing of military bases are accepted. The net effect of the shuffle would be the transferring out of 299 military personnel and the addition of a single civilian employee. The recommendations reflect Hawaii's strategic importance in the post-Cold War era.

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard stands to net 111 additional civilian jobs if recommendations by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC, are accepted by President Bush and Congress. The increase would follow the shutting down of the historic Portsmouth Naval Shipyard at Kittery, Me., which overhauls and upgrades nuclear submarines.

Workers at the Maine shipyard demonstrated angrily upon learning of the proposed closure, although it had been anticipated. The shipyard employs more than 4,000 civilians from Maine and nearby Portsmouth, N.H. Ironically, the announcement came a day after the Navy bestowed on the shipyard a Meritorious Unit Commendation.

The Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations plan to fight the closure. "You can't just rebuild a nuclear facility," Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) complained to the Portsmouth Herald. "It came down to a choice between Portsmouth and Pearl Harbor (shipyard) and they decided not to close Pearl Harbor." He acknowledged that it will be difficult to prove that closing the Maine shipyard would be a "substantial deviation" from the criteria used by the commission.

The commission also recommended transferring some operations from Hickam Air Force Base to the mainland and essentially moving an Army reserve center north of Hilo to a location near Hilo Airport.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that base locations designed for the Cold War "must give way to the new demands of the war against extremism and other evolving 21st-century challenges." The commission's recommendations were clearly nonpartisan, angering many Republicans in Congress and pleasing Hawaii's Democratic delegation.

Rep. Neil Abercrombie said the commission's report validates the delegation's work "to add value, increase capacity and enhance the flexibility of Hawaii installations." Rep. Ed Case said the report "reaffirmed Hawaii's vital strategic role in the 21st century."

Hawaii's military presence is expected to grow beyond the picture painted by the commission. The BRAC report does not include reassignment of aircraft carriers; another commission recommended last week the addition of such a carrier to the Pacific waters and cited Hawaii as "a likely location."

Aside from BRAC's recommendations, berthing of the aircraft carrier at Pearl Harbor could well lead to the reopening of Barbers Point Naval Air Station, which was targeted by a 1983 BRAC and was turned over to the state six years ago. Governor Lingle and Senator Inouye have suggested returning at least part of Barbers Point to the Navy to accommodate the carrier.

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