CHICAGO – As the BRAC Commission is expected to take final votes concerning the future of several Illinois military installations later this week, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich sent a letter to all nine commissioners offering a detailed and comprehensive analysis refuting the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) recommendations that would take more than 1,900 jobs from the Rock Island Arsenal, strip the 183rd Fighter Wing in Springfield of its F-16 aircraft and more than 600 jobs and eliminate approximately 2,000 jobs from the Great Lakes Naval Training Center.
“As you are about to complete your very complicated and complex task, I hope you take into account these very compelling, factual reasons for reversing DoD’s ill-conceived recommendations. This is not about parochialism or politics. This is about doing what is right for our country. The BRAC process is about two worthy goals - saving money and making our military more efficient and effective. The only problem is the Pentagon is not practicing what it preaches. These recommendations fly in the face of reason and must be stopped,” Gov. Blagojevich wrote.
THE ROCK ISLAND ARSENAL (RIA):
Moving the Tank Automotive and Armaments Command – Rock Island (“TACOM-RI”) to the Detroit Arsenal. This realignment will result in approximately 1,100 positions moving out of Rock Island to Warren, Michigan. This recommendation is highly suspect for several reasons: (1) According to the Army’s own rankings, RIA has a higher military value than the Detroit Arsenal. It is contrary to sound judgment to move a mission out of a higher ranking installation to a lower one; (2) the Detroit Arsenal does not have enough space to accommodate all of these new positions, which will result in more than $115 million in construction costs; (3) the civilian wage rate is 6.7 percent higher in Warren, Michigan than Rock Island; and (4) there will be no efficiencies created by moving TACOM-RI to Detroit. The missions of TACOM-RI and the Detroit Arsenal have no overlap, and the Army will not be furthering its goal of creating a Center of Excellence through this realignment.
Moving the Regional Civilian Personnel Office (CHRA) to Fort Riley in Kansas. The CHRA office at RIA is the top ranked personnel office in the Army. DoD has recently admitted in its submission to the Commission that it would not have proposed moving this office except for the fact that the Army anticipated closing RIA. Since RIA is remaining open, this realignment should be reversed. To do otherwise would violate BRAC criteria because a mission would be moving from a higher rated location to a lower rated one and waste taxpayer dollars.
Closing the Defense Finance Accounting Service at Rock Island (“DFAS-RI”). DFAS-RI has the highest value ranking of any DFAS office in DoD. RIA has ample room to take on additional DFAS positions and Illinois has an outstanding educational system that is and will be an important pipeline for qualified professionals for DFAS-RI. Accordingly, RIA should be viewed as a DFAS expansion location, not the other way around.
CAPITAL AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE (ANGB) IN SPRINGFIELD
DoD has recommended that the F-16 jets currently located at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport (“Capital ANBG”) in Springfield, Illinois be relocated to the Air Guard base in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. This realignment must be reversed for several reasons:
Capital ANGB has a higher military value ranking than Ft. Wayne. It does not make sense to move scarce resources from a higher ranked installation to a lower one.
The move will cost not save money in the long run. Air Force figures show that it will cost $10 million to move the aircraft out of Springfield. The payback period for this move was listed as “never” by the Air Force.
The removal of the fighter mission and associated units will create an unacceptable homeland security risk. Without the F-16s based in Springfield, the entire lower Midwest will be left without fighter protection. The events of September 11, 2001 should be a reminder to us all that such a situation is unacceptable. Further, the firefighters currently based at Capital ANGB are also slated to be moved out of Illinois. These firefighters are some of the most valuable first responders in Illinois, and their loss would be a needless homeland security risk with little associated savings.
Recruiting and retention at Capital ANGB is outstanding. The only reason the Air Force provided for moving the fighter mission out of Capital ANGB to a lower value installation was that Ft. Wayne has a better recruiting record. This is a stretch of the truth and clearly aimed at justifying an otherwise unjustifiable recommendation. Springfield has an outstanding recruiting record and has consistently maintained force levels at 99 to 100 percent of allocated positions. Such a record would be the envy of almost every other Air Guard unit in the nation.
DoD failed to meet its legal obligation to consult with the Governor who is Commander-in-Chief of the Illinois National Guard before issuing the Capital ANGB recommendation. As a result, the recommendation cannot proceed. Recently, legal counsel for the BRAC Commission issued a memo in which he fully agreed with the legal arguments that Gov. Blagojevich has been making all along. BRAC Deputy General Counsel Dan Cowhig wrote that no change in the organizational structure of an Air National Guard Unit may take place without the consent of that state’s governor. Last month, Gov. Blagojevich filed a lawsuit in federal court to stop U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the BRAC Commission from moving the F-16 aircraft.
GREAT LAKES NAVAL STATION
DoD has proposed moving approximately 2,000 positions out of the Great Lakes Naval Training Center (“GLNTC”). The bulk of these positions involve Naval Corpsmen training that will be consolidated from several locations around the country to one in Texas. This would be problematic for two reasons. First, this approach may result in over-centralization that could lead to future problems due to lack of redundancy. Second, the cost to complete the Great Lakes and associated realignments will likely reach more than $1 billion according to DoD estimates. Gov. Blagojevich urged the Commission to consider scaling back this consolidation from one to two locations. This will still provide significant cost savings along with needed redundancy. Due to its central location and outstanding facilities, GLNTC would be a natural location to consolidate, which would enjoy strong congressional, state and local support.
The Governor has been leading a coordinated effort for nearly three years with the Illinois Congressional Delegation, other elected officials and local leaders to prevent Illinois’ military bases from ending up on the BRAC list that will be announced in September. He consistently has stressed that these actions are a threat to our national and homeland security and are not cost effective.
The Commission will publicly release its BRAC report by September 8th and will send it to President Bush. The President has until September 23rd to approve or disapprove the list. The BRAC list must then be sent to Congress by November 7th, who must also approve or disapprove the list.