May 10, 2004
Home base | After nearly 10 years overseeing the Loring Development Authority, Brian Hamel takes a look back at base closings, biathlon and Aroostook County's economic development prospects
By Mike Woelflein
The last time the U.S. Department of Defense initiated a round of military base closings, Rick Tetrev is sure that a handwritten note from a high-ranking Navy official kept Brunswick Naval Air Station off the closure list. According to Tetrev, the commander in chief of the Atlantic fleet handwrote on the Navy's recommendation that he must have an active duty base in the Northeast ˆ and his words ended up in the DOD's final report in 1995. "Sen. [Bill] Cohen had invited Admiral [William] Flanagan to come to Maine to see his base," Tetrev says. "That was extremely effective, and I guarantee it ultimately led to him writing his little note on the report."
That chain of events is something Tetrev, a retired Navy officer who heads the Brunswick Naval Air Station Task Force ˆ a group of retired military personnel and local business people chartered by the Chamber of Commerce of the Bath-Brunswick Region ˆ has kept in mind as his group prepares for the latest round of base closings, scheduled to be announced next spring. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said the process, known as Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, ultimately will result in the closure of 24% of the 425 bases nationwide. Tetrev's mission is to make sure that, despite recent changes in military strategy that may lessen BNAS' importance, the base stays open. His task force recently compiled a report detailing its case, which will be finalized and sent to DOD next month.
According to Tetrev, BNAS is Maine's third-largest employer, following the state itself and Bath Iron Works. It employs 5,227 military and civilian workers, and contributes more than $243 million in salaries, medical expenses and construction costs to the state's economy each year. "If you carry that out over a 10-year period, we're talking about $2.4 billion," he says. "So we're talking real dollars."
Part of Tetrev's challenge, though, is that much of what makes BNAS important to Maine is irrelevant to DOD. The agency's top criteria for determining which bases will remain open, which it released in January, are current and future military capability, availability and condition of land, facilities and airspace, and ability to accommodate troops that might be reassigned from overseas bases, which are also targeted for closure. "As far as the economic impact goes, it is third from the last for consideration of DOD," Tetrev says.
More relevant to DOD is what Tetrev says are BNAS' strategic advantages for national security. "There are no other active duty airdromes in the Northeast," Tetrev says, adding, "This is the closest [base] to Europe ˆ we've got 63,000 miles of unencumbered air space."
Despite BNAS's strategic location, the base's direct military function was questioned recently when the Navy announced it will reduce its fleet of P-3 Orions by 35%. BNAS is one of four bases nationwide for P-3s, submarine-hunting planes whose heyday was during the Cold War. "It throws uncertainty out there," Tetrev says of the announcement.
After DOD releases its recommended base closure list next May, the BRAC Commission, made up of appointees from the House and Senate, will review and revise the list, taking into consideration economic impact, community support and other non-military concerns. Between now and then, Tetrev and other members of the task force will be working with Maine's congressional delegation to identify ˆ and lobby ˆ DOD and Navy officials who might have input into the BRAC process, a la Cohen's efforts with Flanagan. "We're going to be getting them up here, showing them the base and educating them on what they have [in Brunswick]. Then it's another big effort to educate the public, to get them to understand what the base means to the local communities, what it means to Maine," Tetrev says. "From now on, it really becomes a public relations campaign."
That chain of events is something Tetrev, a retired Navy officer who heads the Brunswick Naval Air Station Task Force ˆ a group of retired military personnel and local business people chartered by the Chamber of Commerce of the Bath-Brunswick Region ˆ has kept in mind as his group prepares for the latest round of base closings, scheduled to be announced next spring. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has said the process, known as Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC, ultimately will result in the closure of 24% of the 425 bases nationwide. Tetrev's mission is to make sure that, despite recent changes in military strategy that may lessen BNAS' importance, the base stays open. His task force recently compiled a report detailing its case, which will be finalized and sent to DOD next month.
According to Tetrev, BNAS is Maine's third-largest employer, following the state itself and Bath Iron Works. It employs 5,227 military and civilian workers, and contributes more than $243 million in salaries, medical expenses and construction costs to the state's economy each year. "If you carry that out over a 10-year period, we're talking about $2.4 billion," he says. "So we're talking real dollars."
Part of Tetrev's challenge, though, is that much of what makes BNAS important to Maine is irrelevant to DOD. The agency's top criteria for determining which bases will remain open, which it released in January, are current and future military capability, availability and condition of land, facilities and airspace, and ability to accommodate troops that might be reassigned from overseas bases, which are also targeted for closure. "As far as the economic impact goes, it is third from the last for consideration of DOD," Tetrev says.
More relevant to DOD is what Tetrev says are BNAS' strategic advantages for national security. "There are no other active duty airdromes in the Northeast," Tetrev says, adding, "This is the closest [base] to Europe ˆ we've got 63,000 miles of unencumbered air space."
Despite BNAS's strategic location, the base's direct military function was questioned recently when the Navy announced it will reduce its fleet of P-3 Orions by 35%. BNAS is one of four bases nationwide for P-3s, submarine-hunting planes whose heyday was during the Cold War. "It throws uncertainty out there," Tetrev says of the announcement.
After DOD releases its recommended base closure list next May, the BRAC Commission, made up of appointees from the House and Senate, will review and revise the list, taking into consideration economic impact, community support and other non-military concerns. Between now and then, Tetrev and other members of the task force will be working with Maine's congressional delegation to identify ˆ and lobby ˆ DOD and Navy officials who might have input into the BRAC process, a la Cohen's efforts with Flanagan. "We're going to be getting them up here, showing them the base and educating them on what they have [in Brunswick]. Then it's another big effort to educate the public, to get them to understand what the base means to the local communities, what it means to Maine," Tetrev says. "From now on, it really becomes a public relations campaign."
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