Hanscom News: Hanscom Field

ShhAir
P.O. Box 441
Concord, MA 01742
(781) 674-9755
info@shhair.org

Hanscom Air Force Base and BRAC News

8/26/05 Globe, Concord Journal: Hanscom AFB will not be closed as part of BRAC, but an independent federal review panel rejected the Pentagon's proposal to enlarge the base and instead will cut more than 200 jobs. Selectmen from surrounding towns drafted letters to the BRAC Commission asking this to be reversed.
5/19/05 Globe, Lincoln Journal, Globe, Bedford Minuteman: Relieved State, Lincoln town and Hanscom AFB officials begin cautiously charting plans for the future of the Base.
5/13/05 Bedford Minuteman, USAF, Globe, AP: The BRAC Commission recommends that Hanscom AFB should be expanded rather than closed. Under the proposal, Hanscom would take over research on air and space information technology now conducted at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio, Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, and Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. The Bedford facility would lose the Air Force Research Lab, relocated to Wright- Patterson, as well as its Space Vehicles Directorate, which the Pentagon wants to move to Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. But overall, Hanscom would gain 1,104 jobs. Other New England Bases were hard hit however.
5/12/05 Bedford Minuteman, Lexington Minuteman, Bedford Minuteman, Concord Journal: While anxiously awaiting the BRAC Commission recommendations, nearby towns hear results of pre-BRAC planning grant.
3/24/05 Globe, Bedford Minuteman, Lincoln Journal, Concord Journal, Lincoln Journal, Bedford Minuteman, Globe, Concord Journal, Concord Journal: The towns surrounding Hanscom Air Force Base quietly prepare for the possibility of closure of the Base.
3/16/05 Bedford Minuteman, Boston.com, AP, Globe: While State politicians push hard for Hanscom before the May BRAC deadline, President Bush appoints a BRAC commission with little representation from the Northeast.
2/5/05 Globe, Bedford Minuteman, Lexington Minuteman, Globe: As part of the state's bid to save Hanscom Air Force Base from closure, Governor Mitt Romney signed a bill yesterday that authorizes a $261-million expansion.
12/10/04 Globe, Globe: The Pentagon will not take into account the planned expansion of Hanscom Air Force Base when deciding which military bases to close this year, according to a senior Defense Department official. Supporters say this is a boilerplate response and that actually the lobbying effort by Governor Mitt Romney and Senator Edward M. Kennedy to save the Bedford base is picking up speed.
12/2/04 Globe, Concord Journal: HATS will hire consultants to conduct a preliminary study of how the communities near Hanscom Air Force Base would be affected if it is closed.
9/04 UMass Study, Highlights: "Hanscom Air Force Base and Natick Soldier Systems Center are responsible for more than 33,000 jobs and a total payroll of nearly $2 billion. Significantly, much of this activity involves technology and other innovative activities that are critically important to the state economy, with an impact felt in cities and towns and economic sectors across the state."
9/8/04 Boston.com, Metrowest Daily News, Lowell Sun, Metrowest Daily News, Globe, Globe: In a bid to prevent the Pentagon from closing Hanscom Air Force Base, state officials unveiled a $410mil plan on Wednesday for expanding the base into a high-tech military research hub. The plan won unanimous support for area town selectmen and ShhAir.
7/28/04 Bedford Minuteman, Bedford Minuteman, Bedford Minuteman, Bedford Minuteman, Bedford Minuteman: Timeline for the Air Force Base Realignment and Closures (BRAC) process, along with numerous articles about how the potential closure of Hanscom AFB could affect the area.
9/16/04 Lexington Minuteman: A chronicle of the transformation of Hanscom Air Force Base from farmland to fighter base to defense technology center.
6/6/04 Globe: At the suggestion of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, selectmen from the four communities surrounding Hanscom Field are looking into whether the civilian airfield should be renamed to clear up any misperceptions that it and the adjoining Hanscom Air Force Base are one and the same.
5/12/04 Lincoln Journal, Lincoln Journal: Lincoln Selectmen update residents on Hanscom Air Force Base possible changes and discussions.
5/5/04 Lincoln Journal, Bedford Minuteman: The MassDTI, a public/private partnership is lobbying to "preserve and enhance" the state's two largest defense technology centers, Hanscom Air Force Base and Natick's U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center.
3/11/04 Lincoln Journal, Globe: Hanscom Air Force Base is turning over the ownership, development, renovation and maintenance of their family housing to the private sector.
2/18/04 Bedford Minuteman, Globe, Lincoln Journal: Massachusetts is making its case for keeping Hanscom Air Force Base, but so far results have been mixed.
2/5/04 Lowell Sun, Lowell Sun, Herald, Globe, Lowell Sun: Defense Secretary Rumsfeld said Hanscom Air Force base will be compared with its peer research facilities during the Pentagon's upcoming mission to trim a quarter of its stateside bases beginning next year.
1/25/04 Globe, Globe: New campaigns aimed at preserving Hanscom Air Force Base are being put in place, under the direction of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, a Waltham-based trade group.
1/21/04 Bedford Minuteman: Bedford Selectmen have penned a letter to the Pentagon, registering their concerns about criteria to be used in a military realignment process that could result in the downsizing or closing of Hanscom Air Force Base.
12/22/03 Globe: Massachusetts leaders are trying an innovative strategy to keep Hanscom Air Force Base open: convincing the Pentagon that brainpower is vital to national security.
10/13/03 Boston Business Journal, Globe: As part of its high-stakes effort to save Hanscom Air Force Base, the Romney administration is trying to acquire 48 acres of land in Bedford for future development by private companies.
9/28/03 Globe, Bedford Minuteman, Bedford Minuteman, Lincoln Journal, Lexington Minuteman: Neighboring town officials, local newspapers, Save Our Heritage and ShhAir all express their long standing support for the Hanscom Air Force Base and the jobs it brings to the area.
9/21/03 Lowell Sun: Three part series on Hanscom Air Force Base and the military's upcoming base relocation and closure (BRAC) process.
7/30/03 Bedford Minuteman: HATS new chairman suggests that the towns should look for ways to help the Hanscom Air Force Base avoid closure in 2005, since the Base contributes greatly to the local economy.
5/3/03 Herald, Bedford Minuteman, Bedford Minuteman, Globe, Herald, Globe: Top Bay State Democrats and Republicans yesterday vowed to wage an all-out battle to keep Hanscom Air Force Base from being in the next round of military base closures, scheduled to be completed in 2005.
3/27/03 Bedford Minuteman: While the battlefield is a tough place, the innovations from Hanscom Air Force Base make the troops' jobs a bit easier.
3/4/03 Fitchburg S&E: U.S. Rep. Marty Meehan has launched a preventative strike to ensure Hanscom Air Force Base -- and its $3.2 billion economic impact on the state's economy -- survives the next round of base closures in 2005.
11/28/02 Globe: Fearful that the large military research and development facilities in Bedford and Natick could be shuttered by a new round of base closures, state officials have launched a campaign to save the installations, which indirectly employ about 15,000 people in Massachusetts.
9/12/02 Bedford Minuteman, Globe: Many of the 850 units of housing at Hanscom Air Force Base may eventually be privatized, complements of the U.S. Air Force.
5/19/02 Globe: In 1943 Hanscom Air Forced base was named after Laurence G. Hanscom, a pilot and Army reservist who was killed performing stunt maneuvers in a plane.
12/13/01 Concord Journal: State officials and U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy have launched a major campaign to protect Hanscom Air Force Base from being closed in a pending Pentagon reorganization.
11/20/01 Bedford Minuteman: Local business executives and government officials are gearing up to publicize that Hanscom Air Force Base is a valuable resource and should not be included in the next round of Defense Department base closings.
11/5/01 AP, Herald: Air Force Secretary James Roche said Hanscom Air Force Base's mission is vital to national defense, but made no promises as Congress prepares to consider a new round of base closings.
10/15/01 AP, Bedford Minuteman: "In a pre-emptive strike before the next round of base closings, lawmakers on Monday hailed Hanscom Air Force Base as a vital component of the state's economy and the nation's defense."
9/16/01 Globe: Regional business leaders and state officials are gearing up to marshal support for Hanscom Air Force Base as Congress considers two bills that would shutter varying numbers of military installations nationwide.
7/27/01 Bedford Minuteman: Officials expect that Hanscom Air Force Base will remain open despite military re-organization.

6/1/00 Bedford Minuteman: The military plans to start a Traffic Demand Management Program to handle the extra traffic heading to new offices.

�ShhAir 2000
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