Editorial: Base closings

It’s been more than a decade since Congress authorized the closure of obsolete military bases. But Pentagon officials are now pushing lawmakers to shutter dozens of additional facilities across the country.

The issue frightens Congress like few others. Protecting local bases is seen as a sign of a representative’s commitment to his district. So reluctant is Congress to act on this matter that in 1990 it passed the Base Realignment and Closure Act, which sloughs off base-closing decisions to a nine-member independent panel. After the board compiles its list of targeted installations, Congress must vote up or down on the recommendation as a whole.

The last round of closings took place in 2005 and affected two dozen bases, though none in Nevada.

The Associated Press reported this week, however, that the Pentagon is asking Congress to revive the commission. “In a little-noticed report to congressional leaders this month, the Pentagon offered a detailed analysis … that concludes the military will have an overall 22 percent excess of base capacity in 2019,” the news service reported.

Many members of Congress — particularly Republicans — will reflexively oppose re-activating the panel. They argue that the current defense budget is inadequate at a time of rising terror and tension across the globe. Indeed, by 2018, the U.S. Army is projected to have just 450,000 soldiers, down from 570,000 in 2012. Meanwhile the U.S. Navy now has its fewest ships since 1916.

But not all budget adjustments are created equal. It makes little sense in terms of military readiness or capability to continue pouring tax dollars into bases or facilities that have outlived their usefulness.

A common-sense defense budget would ensure the military has the manpower, training, technology and equipment to meet future and ongoing challenges, while at the same time setting priorities to direct financial resources where they are most needed to accomplish that goal. Obsolete military bases which do nothing to advance that end should not be immune from fiscal scrutiny.