Number: RL32216
Title: Military Base Closures: Implementing the 2005 Round
Authors: David E. Lockwood, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division 
Abstract: On November 15, 2002, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld issued a memorandum to senior staff regarding the implementation of the new base realignment and closure (BRAG) round authorized by Congress in 2001. He emphasized that, as part of the Department of Defense's transformation initiative, "new force structures must be accompanied by a new base structure," and added that "BRAC 2005 should be the means by which we reconfigure our current infrastructure [bases] into one in which operational capacity maximizes other war fighting capability and efficiency." He, then, directed that the process begin immediately. It was, in effect, the formal launching of DOD's 2005 base closure implementation process. On October 8, 2004, Senate and House conferees reached agreement on the National Defense Authorization Act for FY2005, which included continued support of DODs authority to conduct a round of closures and realignments in 2005.
Pages: 22
Date: June 1, 2005