Bedford Minuteman
July 27, 2001

Hanscom likely to stay open
Officials say military re-organization shouldn't effect base

by John Gregg, CNC Staff Writer

With U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld preparing a massive
reorganization at the Pentagon, supporters of Natick Labs and Hanscom Air
Force Base are preparing for a white-glove inspection.

The two bases, along with military installations throughout the country,
could face intense scrutiny if, as expected, Washington policy-makers start
another round of base closures.

" I think all the facilities, with only very few exceptions, are going to be
looked at very closely if this goes through, " said Christopher Hellman, a
senior analyst with the Washington-based Center for Defense Information.

Pentagon chiefs have long called for ridding the military of redundant bases
that are costly to maintain. Rumsfeld's plan to reshape the Pentagon also
may strain the budget for military spending.

" One (major component of Rumsfeld's plan) is transforming the military into
a lighter, more easily deployable force with an increased reliance on
futuristic technology, " Hellman said. " It's the whole idea of transforming
the military into a 21st century force, not a Cold War force. It's going to
require an awful lot of money. "

Natick Labs was considered as a candidate for shut-down by the Base
Realignment and Closure commission in the 1995 round of cuts. But local
arguments about the importance of the research there and the $90 million in
economic activity the base generated in MetroWest kept the facility open.

Other Massachusetts bases were closed in the past decade, including Fort
Devens and the South Weymouth Naval Air Station.

The latest talk in Washington about base closures is being watched intently
in Massachusetts.

" We're reading the papers and very interested in what's going on, " said
Jerry Whitaker, the spokesman for Natick Labs.

At Hanscom Air Force Base, located in Bedford, Lincoln, Concord and
Lexington, 1,400 military officers and 1,400 Air Force civilian employees
are joined by another 6,000 private-sector workers who do military-related
work on the base for contractors, including MIT's Lincoln Laboratories.

The 845-acre base includes 850 houses for officers and enlisted personnel, a
98-lot mobile home park, and dormitories for 200 Air Force personnel.

No Air Force aircraft are stationed at Hanscom, and adjacent Hanscom Field
is now state property and overseen by the Massachusetts Port Authority.

The base is headquarters for the Air Force's Electronics Systems Center,
which oversees the development of radar and communications equipment.

The state-of-the-art AWACS (Advanced Warning and Control System) and J-STARS
(Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System) programs were developed at
Hanscom. AWACS tracks air movements 250 miles in any direction and has been
used in military operations and for drug interdiction along the U.S. border.
J-STARS monitors troop and vehicle movement on the ground.

With J-STARS, " you can be flying somewhere in, say Connecticut or Rhode
Island, and looking down and monitoring traffic on Rte. 9, " said Hanscom
spokesman Kevin Gilmartin.

" The information aspect of warfare has grown over the years, and in future
wars, the party that knows the most is more likely to win, " he added.

The 78-acre Natick base along Lake Cochituate has about 1,700 employees,
most of them civilians or defense contractors. The research includes the
development of food, clothing and shelter for soldiers in a variety of
climates.

Local members of Congress are already preparing for a new round of scrutiny.
U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-7th, is trying to win $10 million in federal funding
to establish an " Army Center of Excellence in Biotechnology " for work
performed at Natick and a sister lab. The program would be part of a
collaboration with Johns Hopkins University.

" We don't take base-closing lying down around here, " said David Moulton,
chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-7th.

Joe Dalton, a Markey aide who works on issues related to Natick Labs, said
the facility's climatic chamber and the high-tech expertise in eastern
Massachusetts argue in favor of keeping both Natick Labs and Hanscom
operating.

" This isn't a tank division, this is a brainpower division. This is what we
do best, and it's going to be what we continue to do best, " Dalton said.

" Congressman Markey likes to say, 'Work smarter, not harder.' That is the
contribution that both Hanscom and Natick Labs makes to our Air Force and
Army, " Dalton added.

Natick Labs, formally known as the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center, is part
of the Army's Soldier and Biological Chemical Command, garrisoned at
Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Aberdeen, Md.

Hanscom is part of the Air Force Material Command, headquartered at
Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio.

John Reppert, a retired brigadier general at the Belfer Center for Science
and International Affairs at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, said
the research performed at the two bases may protect them from closure.

" The basic intent, as Secretary Rumsfeld has framed it, is to rid the
services of excess capacity, and that suggests those are where duplicative
activities are taking place, which is not the case (with Hanscom and
Natick).

" I would think they would be less endangered then some of the others, "
Reppert added. " If they were one of four B-52 bases, then you scratch your
head and say, 'Do we need four? " '

Hellman, the defense analyst, said the process will likely involve a
combination of merit and politics.

" The fact is, the functions performed at Hanscom and Natick are important
functions as far as the military goes, " he said. " The question is, do they
have to be done there? That's what it really boils down to. "


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