|
Dahlgren's Potomac River range would fall silent if gossip about the base's future proves true. Officials refute speculation the Defense Department could tag the King George base for closure in 2005. |
When King George County Supervisor Robert Fuscaldo checked his e-mail Thursday, it seemed like his worst fears had been confirmed.
The subject read: Base Closings: Just Off-The-Press. The e-mail went on to include the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, on a list of military bases likely to be closed in 2005.
Though the list fed into Fuscaldo's concern that NSWC would be axed, he and other officials have since said it appears to be nothing more than urban legend.
The list started out being published by Carlton Meyer, whose g2mil.com Web site says he is a former Marine Corps officer.
It came to Fuscaldo, NSWC's former commander, through friends with connections in the defense community.
By the time it arrived in his inbox, Fuscaldo thought it may have originated with someone inside the Department of Defense. It didn't list any source.
The incident is typical of the speculation and rumor-mill churning that is accompanying the nation's latest round of Base Realignment and Closures.
The Defense Department won't publish its list of proposed base closings until spring 2005. Congress will then decide whether to approve or reject the entire list.
Until that happens, everything is speculation, said William Young, president of Fredericksburg National Bank and a member of Gov. Mark Warner's BRAC commission.
"You're getting all these rumors and theories that have no base," Young said. "We're at that stage right now."
NSWC officials don't give the list any credence, either.
"This is a privately operated Web site with no ties to or support from the Department of Defense," NSWC spokesman Stacia Courtney said.
The office of Rep. Jo Ann Davis, R-1st, has seen about 10 different lists, spokesman Chris Connelly said. Each was investigated, but none was credible, he said.
King George Supervisor Joseph Grzeika, who serves on Davis' BRAC task force, said he's seen about four lists. NSWC appeared on two.
"I don't forward them," he said. "I kill them when I get them."
Grzeika, a defense contractor, said he believes Dahlgren will be spared. And he said the information circulating now won't have any bearing.
Linda Worrell, president of the Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce, said BRAC can serve as a growth opportunity for the area's three local installations: NSWC, the Army's Fort A.P. Hill in Caroline County and Quantico Marine Corps Base in Stafford and Prince William counties.
Dahlgren has felt positive effects from previous closures. In 1991, BRAC brought 480 new employees to NSWC, mostly because of cuts at its sister base in White Oak, Md. NSWC had appeared on a similar rumor-mill list that year, Fuscaldo said.
In 1995, White Oak closed and some of its duties came to NSWC. The Joint Warfare Analysis Center arrived the same year.
There have been other changes at the base in the past month, but their impact remains unclear.
Ownership of the land, buildings and some base equipment was transferred to the Naval District of Washington, headquartered at Washington's Navy Yard, a shift that will prompt a change in the base name.
The base was also part of a reorganization of all of the Navy's surface-warfare centers into 12 different departments, called product areas. That change is designed to better coordinate how bases accept and complete work. It also provides full disclosure of warfare center efforts of technical, fiscal and business operations.
Fuscaldo said the shifts could have been prompted by the upcoming base closures, or they can be taken at face value.
The BRAC due in 2005 was authorized by Congress in 2001 as a way for the military to save money for modernization. NSWC officials have said it would be inappropriate to speculate how their installation might be affected. But if the base were targeted, the regional economic impact would be huge. NSWC directly employs 3,173 people. The base's payroll topped $228 million last year, and it spent $461.4 million on defense contracts.
"The military's looking for jointness," Davis spokesman Connelly said. "Dahlgren has that. It's not a one-stop shop, and that's a benefit."
To reach ROB DAVIS: 540/374-5418 rdavis@freelancestar.com
