DATE: Monday, June 23, 1997                 TAG: 9706200013

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   57 lines

BASE CLOSINGS GET ON WITH IT

The Republican 105th Congress shrinks from shutting down more military bases, despite the Pentagon's desire to jettison unneeded real estate and activities to free more dollars for defense.

But if Washington refuses to set in motion another round of base closings now, when the economy is perking along, will it to more disposed to do so later, when the economy may have tanked?

The business cycle is still with us. Economic growth has been the norm in the 1990s. Federal and state lawmakers' popularity is boosted when the good times roll, but good times don't last forever.

So this is the moment for Congress to press onward with the streamlining of defense - with the phasing out or consolidation of military bases, installations and activities.

The United States still has enemies. But the U.S. military machine, despite having gotten 36 percent smaller during the 1990s, is the mightiest on Earth. No other nation's armed forces come close to possessing the firepower and the ability to project armed power so far and so fast against so many.

The Pentagon is confident that it would not only retain its leading status as a military force but also enhance it through further trimming. Money saved could be used to buy more sophisticated weapons of devastating force.

Localities where bases have been closed or realigned have been compelled to adjust to new economic realities, but the process - while painful - has on balance been a boon.

Charleston, S.C., and several California localities have more than survived base closings by transforming abandoned defense facilities into centers of private-sector investment and industry. To be sure, the continuing economic recovery has spurred investment and entrepreneurial ventures that have aided localities struck by base closings. The localities would have had a tougher time if the economy had turned down.

So this is the time to go forward with another round of closings. The previous four rounds rid the defense department of 21 percent of its facilities, most of which were legacies of World War II and the Cold War.

The Pentagon says it saves $1.4 billion a year from each round of closings. That's real money.

A promise by President Clinton is also an impediment to more base closings. Running for re-election, he proposed privatizing aircraft-maintenance depots at Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio and McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, Calif.

Republican Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchinson and Phil Gramm of Texas are holding the 1998 defense-spending legislation hostage to a congressional promise to protect both depots.

Hampton Roads still feels the pain from the loss of the naval aviation repair facility at Norfolk Naval Air Station. Hutchinson and Gramm could expect some sympathy from Hampton Roads inhabitants.

But both U.S. Sens. John Warner and Chuck Robb of Virginia are among those on Capitol Hill pressing for further closures nationwide.

They are right to do so. If not now, when? If not the 105th Congress, which future Congress?

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