[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 141 (Thursday, October 18, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10834-S10835]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             BASE CLOSURES

  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. President, on Tuesday, I received a letter on a very 
important subject that I wish to bring to the attention of my 
colleagues.
  The House of Representatives and the Senate are currently meeting in 
joint conference committee on the National Defense Authorization Act 
for Fiscal Year 2002. This bill has many provisions that are very 
important to our military and to our Nation, but one of the most 
important of these is a provision authorizing the President to conduct 
a new round of base closures in 2003.
  The Senate voted to support the request of the administration and of 
our military leaders to allow the Department of Defense, DOD, to 
rationalize, and where necessary reduce, their infrastructure. Allowing 
DOD to conduct a new round of base realignment and closures is 
necessary to stop wasting taxpayer money, to redirect funds to higher 
national security priorities, and to allow the transformation of our 
military. Transformation has never meant just buying new weapons.
  The letter I received is signed by eight former Secretaries of 
Defense. They write to tell the Congress that we must act to allow DOD 
to ensure our base structure supports for our forces and our war 
fighting plans. They warn us that forces tied up defending unneeded 
bases ``are forces unavailable for the campaign on terrorism'' and that 
resources devoted to unneeded facilities cannot be spent on the tools 
we will need to win this war.
  This letter is signed by Robert McNamara, Mel Laird, Jim Schlesinger, 
Harold Brown, Caspar Weinberger, Frank Carlucci, Bill Perry, and our 
former colleague Bill Cohen. I might add that two other former 
Secretaries of Defense, Vice President Cheney and our current Secretary 
Donald Rumsfeld, have asked the Congress for this authority on behalf 
of this administration.
  Every living current or former Secretary of Defense is telling us it 
is essential that we act to reduce our excess infrastructure. The 
Congress should listen to the voice of experience on this matter. These 
are the men who have had the awesome responsibility of protecting our 
Nation's security and running one of the world's largest, most complex 
organizations. These are the men who have been in the chain of command, 
who have had to make life and death decisions. When they tell us we 
need to act, we should listen, and we should act.
  I ask unanimous consent that this letter be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the letter was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                                 October 15, 2001.
     Hon. Carl Levin,
     Chairman, Committee on Armed Services,
     U.S. Senate, Washington, DC.
       Dear Mr. Chairman: This letter underscores the need for the 
     Congress to approve an additional round of base realignment 
     and closure. While we understand the sensitivity of this 
     effort, our support for another round is unequivocal in light 
     of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The Defense 
     Department must be allowed to review its existing 
     infrastructure to ensure it is positioned to support our 
     current and evolving force structure and our war fighting 
     plans.
       We are concerned that the reluctance to close unneeded 
     facilities is a drag on our military forces, particularly in 
     an era when homeland security is being discussed as never 
     before. The forces needed to defend bases that would perhaps 
     otherwise be closed are forces unavailable for the campaign 
     on terrorism. Further, money spent on a redundant facility is 
     money not spent on the latest technology we'll need to win 
     this campaign.
       We thank you for all you have done to provide for our 
     military forces, the finest in the world. We know closing or 
     realigning bases will be difficult, but we expect you will 
     face many difficult decisions in the coming weeks and months. 
     With the support of Secretary Rumsfeld, together we stand 
     ready to assist in any we can.
           Sincerely,
         William J. Perry, Casper W. Weinberger, James 
           Schlesinger, Robert S. McNamara, William S. Cohen, 
           Frank C. Carlucci, Harold Brown, Melvin Laird.

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