by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
Congress continues to tap the brakes on the road to next year’s military base closures, but City and State officials said their efforts to protect local bases are moving “full-speed ahead.”
Florida’s top military lobbyist used that phrase to describe the state’s ongoing preparations. Retired four-star admiral Bob Natter said he thought the Pentagon would shut down bases as scheduled in 2005. The House and Senate are split on a proposal to delay the closings until 2007. The Senate narrowly defeated the House-approved proposal, which was backed by North Florida Reps. Corrine Brown, Cliff Stearns and Ander Crenshaw.
“This is in conference (between House and Senate) right now, and my expectation would be that the process will proceed as currently written,” said Natter. “The governor wants us to proceed as if the base closings will proceed according to schedule.”
That schedule calls for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to provide a list of Base Realignment and Closures to an independent commission by May 16, 2005. Until then, the Defense Department will evaluate bases. Natter’s job is to show the Pentagon that Florida’s 21 bases would be essential components in a streamlined military.
Mayor John Peyton has ordered his own military advisers to work toward “maximum preparedness whether BRAC occurs in 2005 or 2007,” according to an e-mail sent to his staff by military liasion Dan McCarthy.
Rumsfeld released a report last month that said U.S. bases were about 24 percent too large. That announcement touched off the congressional opposition. Local legislators, excluding Sen. Bob Graham, joined a congressional chorus complaining that the closures would hurt local economies and military readiness.
But where legislators see trouble, the governor’s office sees opportunity. A spokesperson for Gov. Jeb Bush said Florida’s strategy was not just to keep its bases but to add to them. The Pentagon is cutting bases, not necessarily people, and closed bases elsewhere could deliver more soldiers and sailors to Florida, said Pam Dana, director of the State office of tourism, trade and economics and one of Bush’s top BRAC advisers.
“We’re likely to see the realignment of troops from lesser-used installations to installations where missions and training can be combined. We’re working very aggressively to bring new missions into the state,” said Dana.
In an earlier interview, Dana stopped short of advocating the closures. However, Natter said Florida’s bases were positioned to do well and said BRAC was a necessary step to produce an effective, efficient military in an era of tight budgets.
“Whether the process happens now or two years from now, the value of Florida’s bases speak for themselves,” said Natter. “It’s not only good for Florida that this proceeds, but it’s in the interest of the military nation wide, and in the taxpayer’s interest as well.”
The military is estimated to spend $44 billion annually in Florida. More than $115 million is spent in Northeast Florida. Dana said the governor’s desire to preserve those economics was the primary reason the state is paying $50,000 monthly to Natter’s team, which is made up of his firm and the lobbying firm of Piper Rudnick.
In addition to Natter, the team comprises former defense secretary William Cohen and former congressman and author of the original BRAC legislation Dick Armey among others. The governor’s office refers to them as its “all-star team.”
Natter worked previously with Bush to relocate Navy training operations from Puerto Rico to Florida, including the U.S. Naval Southern Command’s move to Mayport. Dana pointed to those moves as evidence of the State’s momentum going into 2005.
“It all bodes well for us,” she said.