Closing Time Again

The Pentagon has lots of friends in Congress, except when it comes to base closings. Yet few military projects make more sense than shutting facilities that have lost their usefulness.

There have been four rounds of closings in recent years, with the most recent in 1995. Savings from that jettisoning of excess infrastructure is estimated at more that $6 billion a year.

Now Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wants another round, with hopes of saving an additional $3.5 billion yearly. These savings will pay for better training and modernized equipment, says the secretary.

It's a sound argument, as always, but it meets more than a few deaf ears in Congress. At the heart of the resistance is the politicians' horror of anything that hits constituents in the wallet, which base closings do. But the Pentagon's need to make its operations more efficient should prevail.

The proposed base-closing commission must be as truly independent as possible. The members are best appointed by the president, though Congress will probably have some say. Their final list of recommended closings, drawn up in 2003, should not be subject to veto by the Defense secretary or by Congress. There should be no exempting of some "essential" bases before the commission gets under way.

The Pentagon's plan is sure to cause some fireworks on Capitol Hill when Congress returns from its summer break. But average taxpayers should light a few celebratory sparklers of their own if their public servants in Washington allow this money-saving project to move forward, as it should.