Letter to President Bush, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman Anthony Principi on Base Realignment and Closure
Letter to President Bush, Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Chairman Anthony Principi on Base Realignment and Closure
April 25,2005
As a state, we have been working together to review Califomia's defense infrastructure in anticipation for the next base closure round. California is truly unique in its integrated combination of the nation's best warfighting capabilities, training ranges, research and testing centers, and military schools. Together with our academic centers and defense industry, the state offers more support than any other location for joint operations success and defense transformation.
It is important to understand how Califomia's installations provide such unmatched capability for the 21st century. First, the state is ideally located for response to future threats in the Pacific theater and across Asia. Second, our vast, unencroached, and irreplaceable ranges and our ideal weather conditions provide year round haining. No other place in America offers the diversity of training with the weather to use it.
Most importantly, these operations and facilities are interconnected across the state and into the entire southwestern U. S., providing unique jointness of operations and training.
One cannot alter segments of this integrated capability without affecting all of the remaining parts.
This unique integration of capability is more than just geography and climate. The close proximity of fighting forces to technology centers and experienced human capital enables requirements to quickly become real capability.
Further, this integrated capability provides for continued success in recruiting and retention, in developing and providing technologies to sustain our troops and their operations, and in enhancing our country's space and intelligence operations. Our state and its people completely support the military's essential and vital role in our national security today and tomorrow.
We are committed to support America's military, and believe California provides that support, across the board, better than any other state. To help show this, we have attached the recent report of the California Council on Base Support and Retention, a
comprehensive review of the state's vital role in national defense. It provides clear examples of the interconnectedness that makes California so uniquely important to our national security.
As the Department of Defense concludes its final review of military installations within the base realignment and closure process, we expect that California's bases receive the fair and impartial evaluation they deserve in the base realignment and closure process of 2005 and that the results will reflect the importance of the California defense complex.
Sincerely,
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Dianne Feinstein
Barbara Boxer
C. Michael 'Mike' Thompson
Walter 'Wally' Herger
Dan Lungren
John T. Doolittle
Doris O. Matsui
Lynn C. Woolsey
George Miller
Nancy Pelosi
Barbara Lee
Ellen O. Tauscher
Richard W. Pombo
Tom Lantos
Fortney H. 'Pete' Stark
Anna G. Eshoo
Michael M. 'Mike' Honda
Zoe Lofgren
Sam Farr
Dennis A. Cardoza
George P. Radanovich
Jim Costa
Devin G. Nunes
William M. 'Bill' Thomas
Lois Capps
Elton W. Gallegly
Howard P. 'Buck' McKeon
David T. Dreier
Brad J. Sherman
Howard L. Berman
Adam B. Schiff
Henry A. Waxman
Xavier Becerra
Hilda L. Solis
Diane E. Watson
Lucille Roybal-Allard
Maxine Waters
Jane Harman
Juanita Millender-McDonald
Grace Flores Napolitano
Linda T. Sanchez
Edward R. 'Ed' Royce
Jerry Lewis
Gary G. Miller
Joe Baca
Ken S. Calvert
Mary Whitaker
Dana T. Rohrabacher
Loretta B. Sanchez
Christopher Cox
Darrell Issa
Randall H. 'Duke' 'Randy' Cunningham
Bob Filner
Duncan L. Hunter
Susan A. Davis
http://www.governor.ca.gov/state/govsite/gov_htmldisplay.jsp?BV_SessionID=@@@@1373126954.1115660408@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccfaddeigldifgcfngcfkmdffidfnf.0&sCatTitle=Press+Release&sFilePath=/govsite/press_release/2005_05/20050503_GAAS16805_BRACLtr.html&sTitle=Governor+Schwarzenegger+and+California's+Congressional+Delegation+Send+Letter+on+Base+Realignment+and+Closure&iOID=65707