Bedford Minuteman
Wednesday, July 28, 2004

What if?

By Noah R. Bombard

The last remaining Air Force installation in New England is in a fight
for its life, but if Hanscom Air Force Base is closed, an integral link
between the country's modern defense and the machine that supports it, would
be severed, base proponents say. It would be, said the executive director of
Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative, like "taking the engine out" of
the region.

As the Department of Defense undertakes its fifth round of Base
Realignment and Closures (BRAC) since 1988, proponents for Hanscom Air Force
Base are making their case for its continued role in modern defense.

At stake is an 846-acre military base with approximately 8,500
uniformed and civilian employees, a $3.1 million contribution to the Bay
State economy and several thousand jobs that are supported by the base's
presence.

But as the Department of Defense looks to trim and streamline the
military, advocates for Hanscom say the base is right in line with the
modern, technology-based military the government is looking to carve. That,
they hope, may be the base's best hope for survival in the 21st century.

MITRE has employees both at its Burlington Road location in Bedford and
directly on base. The not-for-profit corporation provides engineering
support to Hanscom's research and development programs. Like many of the
companies that depend on Hanscom, its future is closely linked to that of
the base. If closed, the company would have to move some operations as well.

According to Bob Nesbit, senior vice president for MITRE's Center for
Integrated Intelligence, there are between 600 and 700 MITRE employees
working on various Hanscom projects.

"So if the base were to close and move somewhere else, to provide the
same kind of support, we'd have to move with them," Nesbit said.

That means jobs moving out of state, but not necessarily employees
going with them. Nesbit predicts only a fraction of the employees would
choose to relocate.

Some operations would also remain in Bedford, Nesbit said.

Just what would become of Hanscom is a question several groups involved
with the process said hasn't been addressed yet.

The South Weymouth Naval Air Station was the last military base to be
closed in Massachusetts during the 1995 BRAC process. Decision makers on the
South Shore have yet to figure out how to redevelop that property.

For local supporters of Hanscom, the emphasis at the moment remains
squarely on convincing the Department of Defense of the base's uniqueness.

That, say proponents, shouldn't be difficult to do. Although the base's
presence in Massachusetts means jobs, advocates are spending less time
arguing the base's benefits to the region and more time arguing the region's
contributions to the base.

"What your looking at in the 128 area is the single most dense
concentration of technological capability relevant to the development of
command and control capabilities," said Alan Macdonald, executive director
of Massachusetts Defense Technology Initiative.

The Technology Initiative is coordinating the state's effort to
preserve and enhance Hanscom and the Natick Army Soldier Systems Center.

Hanscom and Natick are about technology, Macdonald said, and the
technology cluster that exists in the Route 128 area cannot be duplicated
elsewhere.

According to Nesbit, the region has always maintained an adaptable
workforce that has matched the military's needs. Companies like MITRE,
Lincoln Laboratory, Raytheon and many others that do business with the base
draw heavily on the high-tech sector and candidates from schools like
Harvard and MIT.

"When [Hanscom] was formed in the '60s and the '70s, this was basically
a radar operation, where they were building radars that looked for Soviet
bombers; so the workforce was largely radar engineers," Nesbit said.

In the 70s to late 80s, the bulk of the work shifted to communications
and qualified workers were easy to find in Massachusetts, Nesbit said.
Today, the emphasis is on information technology and the same holds true.

"So we've gone through three generations of workforce here with very
technical skills," Nesbit said. "That's not something you can do in the
middle of nowhere."

The middle of nowhere is exactly where Hanscom appeared to be headed
during the last BRAC round in '95. Discussions at that time included a plan
to move Hanscom operations to Oklahoma. Another possibility, which is still
on the table this time around, was to move operations at Hanscom, as well as
Naval Station San Diego, to Fort Monmouth, N.J. The reason, Macdonald said,
was because they would fit there.

"You could get the people and the equipment in the installation
footprint," Macdonald said. "Our point was that inherently misses the
criteria that needs to go into this."

"It's one of the frustrations of this whole base closing thing is they
tend to look at it from a real estate standpoint instead of where do I need
to be to get the job done," Nesbit said.

"That's inherent in the BRAC process," Macdonald said. "The four
previous rounds were very much the low hanging fruit variety - mass
reduction in personnel."

This round is also aimed at "eliminating excess physical capacity,"
according to a quote attributed to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on the
BRAC Web site.

Should Hanscom survive what has been deemed "the mother of all BRACs,"
it will not be a matter of maintaining the status quo, Macdonald said -
Hanscom would need to grow. Is there room?

"The short answer is yes, yes there's room to accommodate and do it in
a way that is acceptable to the surrounding community," Macdonald said.

Growth wouldn't necessarily mean expansion of facilities, Macdonald
said, pointing out that a decade ago, the base had a workforce of about
12,000 - compared to 8,500 today.

"We're not talking about creating a massive military industrial
complex," he said.

The details of Hanscom's role post-BRAC, should it survive, have yet to
be worked out. For now, Hanscom remains one of many bases named that could
be closed or realigned. The next key date in the process is May 16, 2005,
when the Defense secretary makes his recommendations. The recommendations
are slated to go before the president by Nov. 7 of next year. Only a joint
resolution of disapproval by Congress can override the president's decision.

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