Report Of The Defense Secretarys Commission On Base Realignment And Closure

The Defense Secretary's Commission on Base Realignment and Closure was chartered on May 3, 1988 to recommend military installations within the United States, its commonwealths, territories, and possessions for realignment and closure. The Congress and the President subsequently endorsed this approach through legislation that removed some of the previous impediments to successful base-closure actions. This Commission's recommendations for closure and realignment affect 145 installations. Of this number, 86 are to be closed fully, five are to be closed in part, and 54 will experience a change, either an increase or a decrease, as units and activities are relocated. The Commission also makes several additional recommendations that address potential problems in implementing the Commission's closure and realignment recommendations and certain other matters that the Commission has discovered during its review of the military base structure.

This report constitutes the response of the Department of the Navy (DON) to the requirements of the Base Closure Act for the 1995 round of base realignment and closure (BRAC-95). In addition to the Base Closure Act, the DON base closure and realignment process is governed by implementing policy and guidance issued by the Secretary of Defense (SECDEF) and the Secretary of the Navy (SECNA). The chapters which follow will describe the DON process, the analyses: from which its recommendations were derived, and the considerations which led to particular decision.

This report focuses on lessons learned from the base realignment and closure rounds held in 1988,1991,1993, and 1995. We undertook this work so that a systematic assessment of experiences would be available should the Department of Defense (DOD) request and Congress authorize additional base closure rounds. In transmitting the results of the 1997 Defense Quadrennial Review to Congress on May 19,1997, the Secretary of Defense stated his intent to ask Congress to authorize two additional base closure rounds. We are addressing this report to you in keeping with our practice of reporting to Congress on the recommendations and selection process employed by DOD in each of the three most recent base closure rounds, as initially required by the 1990 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act (P.L. 101-510). We have identified lessons related to savings, costs, and economic impact and improvements needed in DOD's process for identifying bases for realignment and closure. We have also included matters for congressional consideration if Congress contemplates legislation for future base closure rounds.