"The Secretary of Defense is calling for two new rounds of military base closures in 2001 and 2005," Senator Kelly explained. "Before Congress authorizes a new Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission to conduct those rounds, it should thoroughly review and revise the criteria and procedures used to evaluate our remaining bases."

"The world has changed dramatically since the Congress and the Department of Defense established the procedures for the first BRAC Commission in 1991," Representative Mulder stated. "As a result, America's military has shifted from a forward deployed force based overseas to a power projection force based within our own boarders. The success of that force depends on its ability to synchronize all its elements on the ground, air, and sea into a total force that can conduct joint operations around the world. Future base structure decisions must reflect these force structure changes."

Senator Kelly and Representative Mulder noted that the process adopted by the BRAC Commissions in 1991, 1993, and 1995 allowed each of the Armed Services to develop categories for its own bases and then evaluate and rank their own bases applying criteria established by the Department of Defense and Congress.

"Under these individual service evaluations, the concerns of the individual services overshadowed total force considerations," Senator Kelly said. "The old process doesn't fully recognize Alaska's bases' strongest points: strategic location and Army-Air Force Compatibility. It over-emphasizes our weakest point: cost."

Representative Mulder observed that the 1993 BRAC Commission recognized some of the shortcomings of this single service approach when it recommended that the Department of Defense develop procedures for considering potential joint or common activities among the services in several training and support areas.

"Acting on that recommendation, Joint Cross Service Study Groups were formed in 1994 to study five functional areas: Depot Maintenance, Military Medical Treatment Facilities, Test and Evaluation, Undergraduate Pilot Training, and Laboratories," he explained. "We believe that its time to expand that approach and incorporate it into any new law because that's how our Armed Forces will operate together in a changing strategic environment."

Senate Joint Resolution 12 and House Joint Resolution 21 ask the President, the Secretary of Defense, and the Congress to establish new Joint Cross Service Groups (JCSGs) this year to study issues relating to power projection and deployment, joint training, joint operations, and other total force considerations. The JCSCs are directed to develop new evaluation and selection criteria and procedures based on their findings to be incorporated into any future BRAC proceedings.

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