Air Guard Base Closures Rankle States
Governors say losing Air National Guard units, as proposed in new base closure guidelines, would leave their states vulnerable. And since National Guard units are supposed to be at a governor's disposal, a states' rights issue is involved, say many top officials.
MELISSA BLOCK, host:
This week the military Base Realignment and Closure Commission, or BRAC, begins voting on the Pentagon's recommendations to close or shrink dozens of bases. Among the most contentious proposals are those that would close or consolidate Air National Guard units. Governors complain such a move would leave their states more vulnerable, and they say any changes to Guard units without their consent is illegal. NPR's David Schaper reports.
DAVID SCHAPER reporting:
Opposing a military base closure in your home state comes about as naturally to a politician as shaking hands and posing for pictures with constituents at the state fair...
Unidentified Woman #1: We'll wait for him to smile here.
Unidentified Woman #2: OK. One, two, three.
Unidentified Woman #1: OK.
SCHAPER: ...as Illinois Governor Rob Blagojevich did last week.
Governor ROB BLAGOJEVICH (Illinois): We're going to fight this every step of the way.
SCHAPER: Blagojevich is fighting the Pentagon's proposal to move the 17 F-16 jets from the Illinois National Guard's 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield to a Guard base in Ft. Wayne, Indiana.
Gov. BLAGOJEVICH: The governor of a state is the commander in chief of the National Guard, and I happen to be the commander in chief of the Illinois National Guard. You can't move an air base without the consent of the commander in chief of that National Guard. I haven't given consent.
SCHAPER: That states rights argument is the basis of lawsuits filed by Blagojevich and his counterparts in Pennsylvania, Oregon and Tennessee against the Defense Department in an effort to stop Air National Guard base closures. Governors use the Air Guard for local needs from fighting wildfires to recovery from other natural disasters.
(Soundbite of F-16s)
SCHAPER: The Air Force wants to consolidate in fewer locations its aging F-16s, like these conducting training exercises out of Springfield. The Air Force will phase out the aircraft over the next couple of years. As the next generation of fighter jets comes online, like the F-22 and F-35, with more sophisticated technology, the Air Force will need fewer airplanes overall. But Brigadier General Howard Keysler(ph), assistant adjutant general of the Illinois National Guard, worries the Pentagon's time table calls for retiring the F-16 too quickly.
Brigadier General HOWARD KEYSLER (Assistant Adjutant General, Illinois National Guard): This is the airplane that we're using in Afghanistan and in Iraq right now. It has tremendous capabilities. It can do all the day and night missions, precision bombing, all of those things.
SCHAPER: Keysler and others argue for a longer transition period between the older planes and the newer fighter jets. And he says homeland security could be compromised by moving F-16s in Springfield into Indiana and further from big Midwestern cities.
Brig. Gen. KEYSLER: There is going to be a pretty good size hole right here in the central United States without a fighter unit. We'd like not to see that either.
SCHAPER: The Adjutant Generals Association and other governors echo those homeland security concerns about other Air National Guard units. Moving planes from the 102nd Fighter Wing at Otis Air Base on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, for example, would take away the fighters closest to Boston and New York City as well as expose the doorstep of the Atlantic. Pentagon officials tried to quell those fears in BRAC's hearing on the Air Guard units earlier this month. Peter Verga is a deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Homeland Defense.
Mr. PETER VERGA (Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Homeland Defense): We're convinced and satisfied that our responsibilities to support the Department of Homeland Security in their homeland security mission are not impacted adversely by this beyond a level of acceptable risk.
Admiral HAROLD GEHMAN (Retired; BRAC Commissioner): Now that's not exactly a wholehearted endorsement, to me anyway.
SCHAPER: Retired Admiral Harold Gehman and other BRAC commissioners seemed skeptical, not only of the Pentagon's homeland and national security assurances but of the overall strategy to consolidate or shutter some 30 Air National Guard units. The Guard recommendations were the most contentious issue in the final BRAC hearing over the weekend. Commissioner James Bilbray of Nevada said he's never seen so many governors, Democrat and Republican, so unified and angry about one particular issue. And Commission Chairman Anthony Principi said the plan has opened a chasm of disagreement between the Air Force and the National Guard.
Air Force Chief of Staff General John Jumper responded, saying he doesn't consider disagreements with a few adjutants general to be a rift and, in pressing the Pentagon's case one final time, warned the nine-member commission that this round of base closures and realignments represents the last opportunity for a generation to reset our forces. David Schaper, NPR News.
Copyright © 2005 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.