The Pentagon on Friday recommended the closure of 33 major US military bases and the realignment of 29 more, including the historic Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine and Fort McPherson in Georgia. Numerous more smaller facilities also were recommended for closure as Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld gave a nine-member Defence Base Realignment and Closure Commission his recommendations for closing or consolidating many of the 425 major military bases in the United States and its territories. Other prominent bases recommended for closure on the list provided to Congress included: Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota; Naval Station Pascagoula in Mississippi; Fort Monmouth in New Jersey, and Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Connecticut.
The commission will evaluate Rumsfeld's plan and make possible additions or subtractions. Their list, in turn, will be sent to Bush by September 8. If he accepts that plan, he would forward the list to Congress, which can approve or reject it entirely without changes.
"Our current arrangements, designed for the Cold War, must give way to the new demands of the war against extremism and other evolving 21st century challenges," Rumsfeld said in a statement.
The previous four rounds of domestic base closings, in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995, resulted in the closure of 97 major facilities and many more closures and consolidations of smaller bases.
The Pentagon said its recommendations would result in $5.5 billion in recurring annual savings and a net savings of $48.8 billion over 20 years. Total defence savings, combined with those anticipated by realigning US forces worldwide, would be $6.7 billion a year and $64.2 billion after costs over 20 years, the Pentagon said.
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine was established in June 1800 and is the oldest naval shipyard continuously operated by the US government. In 1905, the Russo-Japanese War ended when a peace treaty was negotiated and signed at the shipyard.
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