Boston Sunday Globe -- West section
September 28, 2003

Campaign to keep air base going strong

By Davis Bushnell, Globe Correspondent

The campaign to keep Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford off 2005 base realignment and closure lists is accelerating, with MassDevelopment saying it's pulling out all the stops in lobbying Pentagon officials and members of Congress on the merits of keeping the air base open. But the state's economic development agency's job is being made more difficult by two factors, said Alan Macdonald, senior vice president for legislative and military affairs.

First, the public appears to be confused, linking Hanscom Field, operated by the Massachusetts Port Authority, and the adjoining Air Force base, Macdonald said. ''There's no doubt in my mind,'' he said, ''that someone in the Pentagon is doing [an Internet] word search on `Hanscom' '' and misinterpreting stories about opposition to activities at the general aviation airport.

Anna Winter, executive director of Save Our Heritage, a Concord-based historic preservation group that is battling Massport over the airport, has emphasized that the Air Force base ''has always been a valued neighbor and partner of the [area] communities.''

Still, Bedford Selectman Sheldon Moll suggested, the media could do a better job of distinguishing the ''Hanscom US Air Force Base'' and ''Hanscom Field, which has commercial and corporate aviation operations.''

The second complicating factor, Macdonald said, is speculative, word-of-mouth reports that Hanscom Air Force Base and the Army's Natick Soldier Center are already on a federal list of military installations that have been proposed to be closed or realigned.

That is particularly misleading, he said, because the Defense Department has not yet proposed criteria for base closings and realignments. The deadline for coming up with these standards is Dec. 31 of this year, he said.

Then, in mid-February 2004, the secretary of defense must submit final criteria to Congress. May 16, 2005, is the deadline for the secretary to file recommended base closings with Congress and the nine-member Base Realignment and Closure Commission, which won't be formed until early 2005.

The final step will occur in September 2005, when the president will accept or reject a list of base closings and realignments submitted by the commission.

Macdonald and James Kane, MassDevelopment's chief operating officer, were scheduled to outline this timetable at last Thursday's meeting of the Hanscom Area Towns Committee in Lincoln. The main focus of the committee, made up of selectmen from Bedford, Concord, Lexington, and Lincoln, is on Hanscom Field operations.

''But we want to better understand the BRAC process and what roles our communities can play'' in supporting the Air Force base, said Sara Mattes, who is committee chairwoman and a Lincoln selectwoman.

One of the most effective things the committee and others can do is to further define in public pronouncements ''the differences between Hanscom Air Force Base and Hanscom Field,'' Macdonald said.

That would include, he added, spreading the word about the value of the Air Force base and its Electronic Systems Center, a research-and-development and economic engine for the nation. It funnels $3.2 billion a year in contracts to small and large companies, has an annual payroll of $572 million, and supports an estimated 26,000 jobs.

Meanwhile, MassDevelopment is active in Washington, Macdonald said, conferring with the Massachusetts congressional delegation, particularly with Senator Edward M. Kennedy and Representative Martin Meehan, a Democrat from Lowell, and the agency's two lobbyists, Ronald R. Fogleman, a retired Air Force general, and Alan Dixon, a former US Senator from Illinois, who was chairman of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission in 1995.

This story ran on page 9 of the Boston Globe West on 9/28/2003. © Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company. ==========
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