From Bedford Minuteman TownOnline.com
Hanscom, Natick Labs spared By Paul M. Furfari and Maureen O'Connell/ Staff Writers Friday, May 13, 2005
The towns of Lincoln, Lexington, Bedford and Concord got "fantastic"
news this Friday, the 13th.
So said Lincoln Town Administrator Tim Higgins Friday morning,
after hearing the news that Hanscom Air Force Base and Natick Labs were
saved from closure.
Higgins said an e-mail was issued to him and other officials in the
four Hanscom towns by the Department of Defense at approximately 9:30
a.m. Friday. The e-mail said Hanscom would remain open, and
approximately 1,104 new jobs would be created, Higgins said.
Hanscom Air Force Base now employs approximately 8,500. Of that
number, approximately 3,000 are military personnel working directly for
the base, 2,200 are employees of Lincoln Laboratories, and more than 600
are civilians working at businesses on base.
The Air Force Base is said to contribute $3.1 billion to the
Massachusetts economy. Other Bay State installations including Maloney
U.S. Army Reserve Center in Bellingham, Otis Air Guard Base in Bourne
and Westover U.S. Army Reserve are slated to close. Westover Air Force
Base will reportedly gain approximately 80 jobs.
While Friday morning's news was welcome, officials did caution that
it's too early to breathe a sigh of relief.
"There are a couple things we have to do," said Bedford Selectman
Chairman Gordon Feltman. "First, we have to stay vigilant to make sure
we don't get pushed off the list and put in our place. We always
believed the mission had to survive somewhere, and Hanscom is the place
for it.
"On the other hand, both the state and the four communities
essentially made a series of commitments to the Department of Defense
and the Air Force as to how we would support Hanscom if it's mission
were to expands," Feltman continued.
"I think it's time to start meaningful planning and discussion with
the base," Feltman said. "We made some very general promises, now we
need to find out from the base what they really need..."
Feltman cited improvements to transportation and infrastructure as
something Bedford will need to undertake to assist the base with what
they need to "effectively, quickly and efficiently expand."
Higgins said Friday he didn't have too many details on what the next
steps would be for his town, Lexington, Bedford and Concord, but it
would involve working with the Air Force and supporting whatever
expansion initiatives come forth.
"In terms of next steps, we'll be working with the base commander
to understand the expansion plan and see what the towns can do to
support it," said Higgins. "We're trying to figure it out and assess
what it means for the town."
If the base was on the closure list, Lincoln would have been hit
hard. More than 800 units of housing on the base would have fallen in
the town of Lincoln, and Lincoln public schools educate Hanscom Air
Force Base children at the elementary and middle school levels.
"In a very tough round of base closures in which many states stand
to lose thousands of jobs, Massachusetts has been spared the worst pain
of the commission's difficult decisions," said Sen. John Kerry,
D-Massachusetts. Gains in military and civilian personnel at Hanscom and
other military bases around the state was good news, but the
announcement that the base would expand does little to address the
anxiety many Massachusetts families and communities are facing, Kerry
said Friday in a press release before the official list was released by
the Department of Defense.
Comments made by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld Thursday at a
press conference eased fears that scores of bases would be closed.
Initial estimates had 25 percent of the nation's military installations
slated to close, but Rumsfeld allayed some military community concern by
saying the closings would not be as drastic as initially expected.
Rumsfeld's comments centered on closing excess military space in
leased facilities and moving them back to government owned properties
and reducing excess space as pertains to the military's focus on
reshaping forces to fight a modern war.
In a time of war whenever we can find ways to increase support for
military needs to help the war fighters we should do no less," he said.
"If one thinks about those priorities it clearly makes sense to do
all that one can to identify and remove whatever excess exists to be
able to better address those pressing needs and by so doing, the
American taxpayer benefits," Rumsfeld said.
The previous four BRAC rounds in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995 reduced
excess infrastructure by 21 percent according to the Department of
Defense. Hanscom was also saved from closing during the 1995 BRAC round.
Rumsfeld said this BRAC round would save the military $5.5 billion
annually with a 20 year net-savings of $48.8 billion.
"While (today's) announcement by Secretary Rumsfeld will be a
significant step in this process, it is important to remember that it is
not the final step," said Rep. Edward J. Markey, D-Malden, in a press
release. "If, as we hope, Natick and Hanscom are not on the Secretary's
list of recommended realignments or closures, our team is prepared to
carefully analyze the data and ensure that the decision stands."
Hanscom Air Force Base media relations would not comment on the
BRAC list and Hanscom's status until a press conference at 3 p.m. today.
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From Bedford Minuteman TownOnline.com
Little known about Hanscom's future By Paul M. Furfari/ Staff Writer Friday, May 13, 2005
Even with the news of Hanscom Air Force Base’s future breaking, Col. Timothy Ceteras, commander, 66th Air Base Wing, revealed little about Hanscom’s future in a mid-afternoon Friday press conference. With the morning announcement that Hanscom was not only saved, but will in fact see an increase in its workforce, Ceteras called a mid-afternoon press conference to discuss the decision, the Base Realignment and Closure process and Hanscom’s future. With the implications of a Hanscom expansion so broad and yet unknown, Ceteras said little, noting that more information will be forthcoming as his people begin to learn more about the Department of Defense’s decision. “We’re at the very beginning of this process. Nothing is going to happen overnight,” Ceteras said. “Our main focus today has been talking to our work force.” That work force will increase by 1,104 over the next few years as the BRAC 2005 plans are put into action. Hanscom will now be home to several new military groups from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio and Maxwell Air Force Base’s Gunter Anne in Alabama. The groups would include various technology and communications groups that support computer capabilities for the entire Air Force. A portion of the Cryptologic Systems Group from Lackland Air Force Base in Texas will relocate to Hanscom. In addition, Hanscom will see the loss of two Air Force Labs that will be realigned to bases in Ohio and New Mexico. Ceteras acknowledged that some of the civilian personnel moving to Hanscom from out-of-state could opt out of relocation, which would open up the jobs for Bay State residents. Impacts to area and infrastructure unknown Ceteras revealed little about the impacts the base’s expansion could have on the region, including school populations, housing, traffic and other infrastructure. He deferred questions until a later time when more is known about the Pentagon’s plans. The state has pledged $425 million to assist in the expansion of Hanscom, but Ceteras was unsure how much of those funds would be needed to upgrade facilities and improve housing stock and infrastructure. He said the base hoped to continue its relationships with the surrounding Hanscom towns and that the decision to spare the base “moves one step closer to achieve BRAC objectives.” When asked if the BRAC Commission’s recommendation to expand was a best case scenario for the base, which some had feared would be shuttered in favor of more bases in the nation’s south and west, Ceteras said there was no planned model for success that he had embraced.
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