Virginia delegation races to save jobs in Pentagon plans to close Norfolk site

Virginia’s congressional delegation is racing against the clock to
preserve as many jobs as possible in their state as Pentagon leaders
want to finish their plans to disband the U.S. Joint Forces Command by
the end of the year.

The state’s politicians met this week with Defense Secretary Robert
Gates, Deputy Defense Secretary William Lynn, Chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen and the Commander of Joint Forces
Command (JFCOM) Gen. Ray Odierno to discuss Gates’s recommendation to
close the command, which is headquartered in Norfolk, Va.

{mosads}After the Nov. 23 meeting with the Pentagon officials, lawmakers
sounded more optimistic about being able to preserve some key
functions performed as part of JFCOM and, with those, potentially
several thousand jobs in an area heavily dependent on the military.

There are close to 6,000 people working for JFCOM.

Rep. Rob Wittman (R-Va.) said he was holding Pentagon leaders to the
promise that Odierno will start discussions with Virginia’s Commission
on Military and National Security Facilities about the command’s
future.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) formed the commission partly in
response to Gates’s Aug. 9 announcement that he planned to close JFCOM
to make the Defense Department more efficient and save money.

“They are looking to finish the implementation plan by the end of the
year,” Wittman said in an interview. “That is why it is important that
we sit down with Gen. Odierno.”

Wittman said that some key functions, particularly the modeling and
simulation, likely will be preserved in the Hampton Roads area.

This week’s meeting between the Pentagon officials and the Virginia
delegation, including McDonnell, came after a tense period in which
lawmakers have tussled with the Pentagon for more than three months
over getting more information supporting the rationale for closing
JFCOM.

Sen. Jim Webb (D-Va.), who is up for reelection in 2012, has accused
senior Pentagon officials of “stiff-arming” lawmakers. Webb put a hold
on all Pentagon nominees in an effort to wrestle more information from
the Pentagon. He finally lifted the hold last week after he received
the data he requested.

JFCOM is one of the 10 combatant commands that includes Central
Command, European Command and Africa Command. Webb wanted to know why
JFCOM was singled out for closure and whether the Pentagon has
analyzed the functions of all commands and the growth in personnel in
each since 9/11.

Webb said the Defense Department still has to answer “basic questions
with respect to a cost-benefit analysis that shows what savings would
be gained by closing JFCOM.”

“This lack of transparency and consultation stands in stark contrast
to how decisions of this magnitude are made traditionally,” Webb said
in a statement after the meeting at the Pentagon on Nov. 23.

For some lawmakers, the much-anticipated Pentagon meeting this week
came too late in the process.

“What we have seen today was a discussion and dialogue that should
have taken place in July, prior to the August announcement.” Wittman
said in a statement. “It is my hope Secretary Gates remains a partner
with Virginia in working through this “efficiency initiative” and its
impact on this nation’s security and Virginia. Efforts to find
efficiencies and eliminate wasteful, duplicative spending are needed,
but I still believe we are missing elements in this decision, and we
will continue to ask hard questions of department officials.”

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell stressed in a statement this
week that even though the meeting with the Virginia delegation was
with Gates’ “it was the latest in a series of constructive meetings
between Pentagon leaders and Virginia federal and state elected
representatives.”

Morrell also confirmed Gates’s acknowledgement that “even after JFCOM
is gone, those functions determined to be of importance and retained
will likely remain in the Norfolk and Suffolk area.”