Easing the Blow in Base Closures : Jobs could be saved at McClellan by privatizing some of the base’s work

No state has been more grievously affected than California in the four rounds of military base closings proposed by an independent commission. The first three rounds named 22 California bases for elimination, more than twice as many as in any other state, and the latest round added three.

Potential job losses, direct and indirect, are estimated at more than 200,000. In the most recent round alone, targeting McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, the Oakland Army Base and the Long Beach Naval Shipyard, 19,000 civilian jobs and 7,900 military slots would be eliminated.

Can anything be done to mitigate the impact of these closings? President Clinton can reject in full the commission’s recommendations, or he can offer specific proposals for changing them. No President has ever done either in such a situation, and it’s all but inconceivable that Clinton would say no to the entire list--nor should he. However, he can set a precedent by proposing changes in the commission’s approach. Pentagon officials have now devised one artful and feasible modification that would at least keep in California a significant number of the civilian jobs threatened with elimination. There’s no reason why the commission can’t accept it.

McClellan employs thousands of highly skilled technicians who maintain and repair complex communications and other electronic equipment. The commission would transfer those responsibilities, and many of the people who perform them, to an Army facility in Pennsylvania. Administration officials who have looked at the problem think a better approach would be to privatize the functions performed at McClellan, with many of the engineers and technicians simply going to work for a private contractor. That might save half or more of the 11,000 civilian jobs at stake. It would also save the government the great expense of transferring California workers and their families to Pennsylvania.

The base closure commission is supposed to consider the local economic impact of its recommendations. Here clearly is a case where that consideration argues powerfully for keeping much of the McClellan work force on the job--and in California.