Johnson, Herseth, others get on Board

Sen. John Thune, (R-SD) has proposed a bill that at least slows down the BRAC (Base Realignment and Closing) process.

Admittedly, the primary incentive is the proposed elimination of South Dakots’s Ellsworth A.F.B. near Rapid City. Aside from that there is some real reason to doing this in terms of our overll defense stance.

Pending right now is what is known as the Quadrennial Defense Review (known acronymically of course as the QDR. This is a comprehensive review of the status of the US defense establishment. This includes examining basing, training, weapons systems, procurement needs, personnel requirements, etc.

Among the planned changes to our military alignment, is a considerable withdrawel of US forces from overseas basing, especially in western Europe. This will of course necessitate location of these units in US domestic bases. Also the QDR is supposed to examine the probable future threat status – which is not a priority to the BRAC Commission, but needs to be more seriously considered.