U.S. SENATORS FROM ME/NH DEMAND PENTAGON IMPLEMENT BRAC RECOMMENDATIONS ONLY AFTER CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL; ALLOW PERSONNEL TO TESTIFY

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission having barely begun its work reviewing the Pentagon's BRAC recommendations, Maine and New Hampshire's congressional delegations are working to make sure the Department of Defense (DoD) does not attempt to get a head start on implementing its recommendations or prevent any member of the armed forces or civilian employee from testifying before the Commission. In a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and New Hampshire Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu asked for his assurance that DoD not preemptively identify or carry out any permanent transfer of activities or personnel from any installation identified by the Department for possible closure or realignment prior to Congressional consideration of the final list. The Senators also called on Secretary Rumsfeld to permit any member of the Armed Forces to freely testify before the Commission as to the military value of any military installation, and asked that no member of the Armed Forces who does so be punished in any way. "The Department of Defense should under no circumstances begin to take action on closing and realigning bases across the country before the BRAC process has come to an end," said the Senators in a joint statement. "Also, in order to ensure that the BRAC Commissioners receive all the information they need to make their decisions, all members of the Armed Services or civilian employees should be free to provide any and all information requested by the Commission without fear of reprisal."

Following is the full text of the letter:

Dear Mr. Secretary:

As you know, we are currently reviewing the information supporting your recommendations to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, and we will be presenting information to the Commission in connection with installations in our states that we believe have mistakenly been included in your proposed list for closure or realignment.

In connection with that effort, we request your assurance that there will be no effort by the Department of Defense to preemptively identify or carry out any permanent transfer of activities or personnel from any installation identified by the Department for possible closure or realignment prior to Congressional consideration of the final list of BRAC recommendations, except for reasons of national security or a military emergency, as required by Section 2909 of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act.

To enable the BRAC Commission to obtain authoritative information regarding decisions on military value taken by the Department in connection with its recommendations, we request that you permit any member of the Armed Forces to freely answer questions and/or provide to the Commission testimony as to the military value of any military installation for purposes of the Commission's consideration of the Secretary's recommendations. Further, we seek your assurance that no member of the Armed Forces may be discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or in any other manner discriminated against because such member provided, caused to be provided, or is about to provide testimony or other information to the Commission. Finally, we ask that these same assurances be provided with respect to civilian employees at military installations.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

###