DATE: Monday, November 10, 1997             TAG: 9711100050

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A3   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   57 lines

PENTAGON-BACKED STUDY CALLS FOR MORE BASE CLOSINGS, STAFF CUTS

A new Pentagon-backed study recommends two more rounds of military base closures - a step fiercely opposed by Congress - and slashing the civilian and military staffs inside the Defense Department by 25 percent, Pentagon officials said Sunday.

The proposals will be introduced today at a news conference in the Pentagon attended by Vice President Al Gore, Defense Secretary William Cohen and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Henry Shelton.

If adopted, the steps would save $6 billion annually, said one official.

Pentagon officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the thrust is to get the Defense Department ``focused on better business practices.''

``We need to do our business better, to slim down like the private sector,'' one official said.

Cohen, a former Maine senator, established the panel earlier this year, seeking recommendations to slim down the Pentagon bureaucracy following the May release of a major Pentagon review of strategy and weaponry. Gore has made government reform a hallmark of his vice presidency and wants to show support for the effort, one Pentagon official said.

The Quadrennial Defense Review recommended modest cuts in military forces and additional base closures, but Congress refused to allow any more closures. Closures in the past have caused difficulties in their districts.

Some 100 major bases were closed in four previous rounds.

Cohen has repeatedly stated that if lawmakers want to slim the Pentagon budget, they have to cut back on bases that are not needed by a military that has reduced its forces by 25 percent or more since the end of the Cold War.

Gen. John Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, left office in September arguing that Congress wanted the military to keep bases open that it didn't need, and buy weapons it didn't want.

The new study came from a panel headed by Arnold Punaro, a former staff member of the Senate Armed Services Committee.

The report will call for cutting back 25 percent on the size of the civilian staff in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the mostly military workers in the Joint Chiefs of Staff office, the Pentagon officials said. About 1 million civilians work for the Department of Defense. A figure wasn't available on how many people might be affected by such a staff reduction process inside the Pentagon.

The report also suggests streamlining the military's purchasing processes, something former Secretary of Defense William Perry sought.

Another recommendation would cut costs by giving more work to the private sector, such as conducting payroll operations or managing leased properties through non-military entities, one official said.

``It would take several years, if all these recommendations are accepted,'' the official noted.

One-third of the savings should come from the base closures, one-third from the staff reductions, and one-third from the streamlining and privatization efforts, the second official said. KEYWORDS: BASE CLOSING STUDY

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu