BASE CLOSURES

Colorado Survives Rumsfeld’s Ax

By Amy Brouillette, 5-17-05

Phase one of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's extreme military makeover was unveiled last week, sending shock waves through military communities nationwide and politicians scrambling to save their state’s endangered miltary bases. Part of Rumsfeld’s vision for a trimmed-down, less-is-more fighting force, the plan calls for closing or restructuring 150 small bases and 33 major installations , a move he says would save 50 billion over the next two decades.

Colorado, meanwhile, and other key red states managed to survive Rumsfeld’s hatchet, while those blue states like Connecticut and Maine got the ax, sparking a round of media speculation and criticism over how heavily red v. blue politics played in Rumsfeld’s decision. While Rumsfeld defends his base-closure plan as essential to a much-needed military overhaul, the facts speak for themselves: red states, under the proposal, would gain 12,000 military jobs compared to blue states, which would lose twice that number, 24, 289 jobs, according to the Department of Defense data. The USA Today reports the sweeping overhaul indeed contains a clear red-state bias, shifting military bases—along with thousands of jobs—into regions in the south and the west that supported Bush last November.

A red-state winner in the proposed military restructuring, Colorado stands to gain nearly 5,000 new military jobs at its beefed up facilities at Fort Carson, an Army post southwest of Colorado Springs. The Denver Post reports the Pentagon plan would relocate the 4th Brigade Combat Team from Fort Hood, Texas to Fort Carson, bringing new 4,377 positions to the base, making it the state’s second-largest employer. The plan, if approved by President Bush this September, would be a tremendous economic boon for Colorado Springs, a military (and conservative) hub that already houses NORAD , the stealth military operation that provides air surveillance for Canada and the United States, and the United States Air Force Academy—and would make Colorado a key player in ongoing U.S. war efforts.

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