Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Newark Star-Ledger
August 14, 2008
By Mark Mueller, Star-Ledger Staff
The Army faces "significant challenges" in transferring operations from Fort Monmouth to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland without disrupting ongoing military missions, according to a federal report released yesterday.
The report -- released by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress -- notes that reconstituting the 5,000-member civilian workforce at Aberdeen might not be completed until 2016, five years after Fort Monmouth's scheduled closure.
Moreover, it could be between 2019 and 2024 before that force is fully trained to perform the work now under way at the New Jersey base, the report said.
The GAO found the Army faces challenges in hiring qualified candidates, obtaining security clearances, completing new buildings at Aberdeen and paying for the move. The cost of the transfer, pegged at $780 million when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended it in 2005, has since ballooned to $1.6 billion.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), who has worked with other New Jersey legislators to halt the move, said the report "puts the imprimatur of the Government Accountability Office on the argument we've been making all along."
"We don't want any gaps in supporting our military mission, and if you don't have people to do the job -- if they're not hired or adequately trained -- that's a dangerous scenario," Smith said. "This move has not taken place. We can stop it."
Even Smith, however, acknowledged the difficulty of doing that.
At a congressional hearing in December, Pentagon officials and members of the House Armed Services Committee said they would not revisit the decision.
Smith said he plans to introduce a bill to reverse the closure, but said he doubted it would be brought to the floor for a vote, noting that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) represents Aberdeen. Smith said he planned to make a personal appeal to Army Secretary Pete Geren.
August 14, 2008
By Mark Mueller, Star-Ledger Staff
The Army faces "significant challenges" in transferring operations from Fort Monmouth to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland without disrupting ongoing military missions, according to a federal report released yesterday.
The report -- released by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress -- notes that reconstituting the 5,000-member civilian workforce at Aberdeen might not be completed until 2016, five years after Fort Monmouth's scheduled closure.
Moreover, it could be between 2019 and 2024 before that force is fully trained to perform the work now under way at the New Jersey base, the report said.
The GAO found the Army faces challenges in hiring qualified candidates, obtaining security clearances, completing new buildings at Aberdeen and paying for the move. The cost of the transfer, pegged at $780 million when the Base Realignment and Closure Commission recommended it in 2005, has since ballooned to $1.6 billion.
Rep. Chris Smith (R-4th Dist.), who has worked with other New Jersey legislators to halt the move, said the report "puts the imprimatur of the Government Accountability Office on the argument we've been making all along."
"We don't want any gaps in supporting our military mission, and if you don't have people to do the job -- if they're not hired or adequately trained -- that's a dangerous scenario," Smith said. "This move has not taken place. We can stop it."
Even Smith, however, acknowledged the difficulty of doing that.
At a congressional hearing in December, Pentagon officials and members of the House Armed Services Committee said they would not revisit the decision.
Smith said he plans to introduce a bill to reverse the closure, but said he doubted it would be brought to the floor for a vote, noting that House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) represents Aberdeen. Smith said he planned to make a personal appeal to Army Secretary Pete Geren.