WASHINGTON, D.C. - Maine and New Hampshire''s congressional delegation sent a letter today to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller General David M. Walker requesting that GAO provide any and all documents relating to its evaluation of the Pentagon''s decisions regarding Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Brunswick Naval Air Station and the Limestone DFAS operations. GAO must provide this evaluation by July 1st. "It is of the utmost importance that we determine definitively whether or not the Defense Department followed the proper procedures or made significant errors in its decision-making on base closure recommendations," said Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, New Hampshire Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu, Maine Representatives Tom Allen and Mike Michaud and New Hampshire Representatives Jeb Bradley and Charles Bass in a joint statement. "Having access to all of GAO''s information regarding the Pentagon''s decisions will greatly aid us in this task. In particular, we would like to view documents related to GAO''s evaluation of the Pentagon''s "excess capacity" analysis as applied to the decision that led to the recommendation that Portsmouth Naval Shipyard be closed." The full text of the letter is below: The Honorable David M. Walker Comptroller General of the United States Government Accountability Office 441 G Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20548 Dear Mr. Walker; As you know, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990, as subsequently amended, requires your office to evaluate the Department of Defense''s recent base closure and realignment recommendations. Specifically, the statute requires your office to prepare by July 1, 2005 a detailed evaluation of the Department''s recommendations submitted on May 13, 2005. In those recommendations, the Department proposed realigning the Brunswick Naval Air Station and closing the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and the Limestone Defense Finance and Accounting Service, all located in the State of Maine, but causing significant impact on the State of New Hampshire as well. We write to request copies of any and all documents relating to your office''s assessment regarding Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Brunswick Naval Air Station and the Limestone DFAS operations. We are particularly interested in any documents that relate to your office''s evaluation of the Department''s "excess capacity" analysis as applied to the decision that led to the recommendation that Portsmouth Naval Shipyard be closed. We appreciate your task in meeting the July 1, 2005 statutory report deadline. Nonetheless, as you may know, the States of Maine and New Hampshire have their regional hearing before the Base Realignment and Closure Commission on July 6, 2005, and we are confident that our presentation will benefit from your analysis. Consequently, any effort by your office to expedite your response to this letter, and to expedite the release of your July 1st report, would be very helpful. Sincerely, Senator Judd Gregg Senator Olympia Snowe Senator John Sununu Senator Susan Collins Congressman Charles Bass Congressman Thomas Allen Congressman Jeb Bradley Congressman Michael Michaud ###