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Update: Defense Secretary meets with soldiers at Fort Eustis to address their concerns
Hugh Lessig
UPDATE: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with soldiers at Fort Eustis Tuesday, facing questions on how the U.S. will retain a quality fighting force as it pushes for deep defense cuts.
One day after vowing to shrink the Army to its lowest level in decades, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with soldiers at Fort Eustis to address their concerns about the budget proposal.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel met with Fort Eustis soldiers Tuesday, seeking to reassure them amid sobering budget news that the Army will shrink to its lowest level in decades.
Read the full story in Wednesday's Daily Press print edition and at dailypress.com.
President Obama's upcoming defense budget raises the possibility of losing an aircraft carrier in the coming years while requiring Hampton Roads to face another military base-closing commission.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel discussed the spending plan Monday in advance of its March 4 rollout. It will face intense scrutiny from defense-minded members of Congress, including those in Hampton Roads, where 43 percent of the gross regional product is tied to defense spending.
This budget seeks to reshape the military after 13 years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan, and Hagel made it clear that times are changing. He proposed shrinking the Army to pre-World War II levels and cutting some military benefits. The cuts carry greater risk, but they also ensure the fighting force will be fully trained and equipped, he said.
Hagel will be in Hampton Roads Tuesday afternoon to discuss the Army's future force structure, according to a Department of Defense news release. He will visit the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command Headquarters at Fort Eustis where he will meet with soldiers and other leaders of the organization, the release said.
Hagel's visit with the soldiers will be streamed on the Pentagon channel. Hagel will also meet with airmen at Langley Air Force Base, but that visit will not be open to the press.
Aircraft carriers are of particular concern in Hampton Roads, home to Naval Station Norfolk, the only East Coast carrier port, and Newport News Shipbuilding, the sole maker and maintainer of the U.S. nuclear-powered carrier fleet.
The budget guarantees the Navy would maintain an 11-carrier fleet – for now. But that will change if across-the-board budget cuts under sequestration return in 2016.
The Navy plans to move the USS Theodore Roosevelt from Hampton Roads to the West Coast. In exchange, the USS George Washington would move from Japan to Naval Station Norfolk in preparation for its mid-life refueling and overhaul at Newport News Shipbuilding.
If sequestration happens in 2016, the George Washington would be retired, not refueled, Hagel said.
"That would leave the Navy with ten carrier strike groups," Hagel said. "But keeping the George Washington in the fleet would cost $6 billion – so we would have no other choice than to retire her should sequestration-level cuts be reimposed."
That brought a stinging response from Rep. Randy Forbes, R-Chesapeake, who chairs the House Armed Services panel on seapower.
"At a time when American interests are being challenged around the world, the Secretary of Defense should be sending an unequivocal message to our competitors and allies that he supports a fleet of 11 carriers," Forbes said in a statement. "While Secretary Hagel claimed today that a decision has not been made to reduce the fleet to ten carriers, all the decisions now being made at the Pentagon appear to lay the groundwork to do just that."
The refueling of the George Washington is scheduled to begin in 2016. It is a three-year-plus overhaul that extends the life of the ship by some 25 years. Forbes said canceling the overhaul would be "equivalent to abandoning a ship for which the taxpayers have already paid, when it still has decades of service life left."
Sen. Tim Kaine said Hagel was drawing a clear picture of what the military would look like should sequestration return, whether it is the carrier fleet or elsewhere in the budget.
"The big picture message is that sequestration continues to cause challenges," he said. "I'm aware of that, and the nation needs to be aware of that."
Newport News Shipbuilding is taking a wait-and-see approach.
"We are pleased that the President's FY15 budget request will include a plan to maintain 11 carriers and we look forward to seeing the details," said Christie Miller, a shipyard spokeswoman. "We also understand that this is the first step of many in a long and complex budgetary process and we will remain engaged with the Navy, Congress and our suppliers as the process moves forward."
Sen. Mark R. Warner also said he was pleased at the current commitment to an 11-carrier fleet. However, he acknowledged that Congress must find a way to avoid future cuts under sequestration, which he called "mindless and arbitrary."
Base closing round
The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure commission, or BRAC, shuttered Fort Monroe in Hampton and threatened to close Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach. Since then, Congress has blocked further attempts at another BRAC round. However, BRAC is back. The budget will request another base-closing round in 2017.
"I am mindful that Congress has not agreed to our BRAC requests of the last two years," Hagel said. "But if Congress continues to block these requests even as they slash the overall budget, we will have to consider every tool at our disposal to reduce infrastructure."
Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Westmoreland, chairs the House Armed Services panel on readiness. Last year, he held a hearing to air concerns about BRAC before Obama formally proposed the idea. On Monday, he voiced concerns about the timing of another base-closing round..
The U.S. should not consider closing bases before it settles on the size and shape of the fighting force in the post-war era, he said. In Wittman's view, BRAC is still premature.
As for Hagel's comment that the administration will "consider every tool" should BRAC face opposition, Wittman said trying to circumvent Congress was a bad idea.
"The BRAC process was put in place to make sure there was due diligence," he said. "Stepping outside of that is counter productive."
Kaine has a different problem with the BRAC process. Instead of leaving base-closing decisions to a commission, the military should specify which bases it wants to close. Military leaders make specific recommendations all the time on weapons systems, compensation and other complex issues. They can do the same with bases.
When a BRAC round convenes, it forces every community to stand up and fight, whether they are being targeted or not.
"It's a lobbyist's and a lawyer's dream," he said, "but it's a community's nightmare."
Contact Hugh Lessig at 757-247-7821.
Budget Control Act of 2011
Randy Forbes
Rob Wittman
Newport News Shipbuilding
Timothy M. Kaine