Looks like I stirred the pot a bit with my post following the BRAC announcement. This from todays Grand Forks Herald:
OUR OPINION : Will politics pit GFAFB against Ellsworth?
Our view:: Let's hope not, although the Senate's GOP leadership is sure to work hard to save the S.D. base.
"Fasten your seat belts," Bette Davis memorably said in the movie All About Eve. "It's going to be a bumpy night."
Here are three items of interest to anyone who cares about Grand Forks Air Force Base's fate in the current BRAC round.
Item 1 is a story in a Rapid City (S.D.) Journal issue of about a year ago - May 24, 2004:
"Ellsworth Air Force Base would be a good home for research, development and training for the nation's growing fleet of unmanned military aircraft, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said Saturday ....
"The base could become a national 'center of excellence' for all phases of development of more than a half a dozen emerging UAVs that will build on the tradition of the well-known Predator drone, Frist said."
Frist was in South Dakota at the time campaigning for Republican Senate candidate John Thune. "Assuming President Bush is re-elected, Frist said having a Republican South Dakota senator consulting with Republican Senate leaders would be better for Ellsworth than keeping (incombent Democratic Sen. Tom) Daschle in power," the newspaper reported.
And Thune won - but the Pentagon put Ellsworth on the closure list anyway. Which brings us to Item 2.
On Friday, Fred Barnes, executive editor of The Weekly Standard magazine, and Morton Kondracke, executive editor of Roll Call, appeared on conservative talk-show host Hugh Hewitt's show. Hewitt said the Bush administration and Congress should support Thune by getting Ellsworth off the closure list.
As Hewitt put it, "they cannot close the one base after the state throws Tom Daschle out."
Kondracke disagreed, saying such a "nakedly political" move would hurt the president. But Barnes agreed with Hewitt: "Some of these bases are going to be saved, and it would be very harmful to John Thune if Ellsworth is not one of them."
Which brings us to Item 3, a post Friday on the influential South Dakota Politics Web log (www.southdakotapolitics.blogs.com):
"With the end of the Cold War, the 'jewels' (of the Strategic Air Command), Grand Forks and Ellsworth, no longer are necessary," the blog reads, under the headline, "Grand Forks AFB v. Ellsworth".
"So what makes Grand Forks preferable to Ellsworth when it comes to the unmanned program or realignment in general? Why Grand Forks AFB but not Ellsworth for this program?
"One hates to leech off of our neighbors or undermine their own well being, but our delegation needs to find a way, if not to keep Ellsworth's current mission, at least to mitigate the loss by snagging a mission such as the unmanned aerial program from Grand Forks AFB."
There's not enough room left for comment in this space. But for now, just read the Bette Davis quote again. That pretty much sums it up.
The Air Force has said that a mission at Grand Forks AFB that involves UAV's would be in part a Homeland Security mission and border patrol, which is understandable. In addition, the Fargo Air Guard wing, which will be denuded of its planes, likely will gain some sort of UAV mission as well. Given these facts, basing the UAV's at GFAFB makes sense. However, BRAC commissioners are already questioning the logic of keeping the Grand Forks base open with such a reduced mission (loss of 2,200 service personel and 1,000 civilian contractors). Whether that bodes well for maintaining its KC-135 tanker fleet in addition to an added mission or bodes ill for closing the base entirely (why not station the UAV's a couple hours farther west at Minot AFB?) remains to be seen. But considering it takes 7 of 9 commissioners to add a base to the closure list, its a good bet Grand Forks will survive. That and the likelihood that the new mission at GFAFB will be supplemented by the nearby Fargo Air Guard unit as well as their proximity to our northern border, and its a safe bet we won't be stealing their mission. Ellsworth's best bet lies with convincing the BRAC commission that either Ellsworth is the more appropriate facility for our B-1 fleet or that it is unwise to base the entire fleet at one facility.
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