Taps For Old Bases

Despite protests, the Pentagon plan may not cost many jobs

At the first early warnings last October that the Pentagon might shut down a number of obsolete military bases, communities across the U.S. launched pre- emptive strikes against the plan. The issue had less to do with military utility than with economic survival. In areas where the local economy depends on the payrolls of soldiers and civilian employees, citizens and public officials pleaded with Washington to spare their installations from extinction.

Despite the anticipatory howls, the Defense Secretary's Commission on Base Realignment and Closure last week recommended 86 military bases for termination within the next six years. The Pentagon figures that...

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