BRAC List To Be Released By May 16 (moved from ATSNN), page 1

The long awaited, and possibly dreaded, Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) report will be released no later than May 16th. The BRAC process began in 2002 and is expected to significantly reduce the number of domestic US military bases.

www.newsday.com
WASHINGTON -- Bracing for a bureaucratic storm that's been brewing for 10 years, New York officials are anxiously awaiting word this week on which military bases will be targeted for closure by Pentagon cost-cutters.

The process known as BRAC, for Base Realignment and Closure, will take a major step forward when the Pentagon releases its list of proposed bases for closure or restructuring.

The list will be officially published May 16 but officials are expected to make it public late this week. Given the intense interest and anxiety, word may leak out before then.

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The official line on when the BRAC list will be published and the subsequent events surrounding it is available at www.defenselink.mil/brac, which has posted the following:

By May 16, 2005, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld will forward the department's recommendations to the BRAC Commission.

• The commission will then forward its report on the recommendations to the president by Sept. 8, 2005.

• The president will have until Sept. 23, 2005, to accept or reject the recommendations in their entirety.

• If accepted, Congress will have 45 legislative days to reject the recommendations in their entirety or they become binding on the department.

The word on the street is that the preliminary list will be finalized and briefed to the Joint Chiefs no later than tomorrow. On Friday, it is believed that Secretary Rumsfeld will be briefing the governors of affected states via phone. It is extremely unlikely that the governors will wait for the official "public" announcement on Monday the 16th. In addition, Washington politicians are said to be lobbying Secretary Rumsfeld to avoid releasing the information on Friday the 13th.

In other words, depending on who leaks it first, the general public could find out what is happening to their local base at any time between now and Monday.

Related News Links:
www.defenselink.mil
www.defenselink.mil