BY SHERRY CONOHAN
Staff Writer
FORT MONMOUTH — In a move that should improve Fort Monmouth’s position in the upcoming round of the base realignment and closure (BRAC) proceedings in 2005, the House of Representatives has added a research and development element to the Pentagon’s criteria for what bases to keep.
Reps. Rush D. Holt and Frank J. Pallone Jr., both D-N.J., said the R&D element was added to the criteria for judging the value of a base in the 2005 defense authorization bill when it was passed by the House last week.
The measure still has to be acted upon by the Senate.
Holt and Pallone said the R&D element was added to the criteria through an amendment offered by Rep. Heather Wilson of New Mexico. They said it should strengthen the case to keep open Fort Monmouth and other bases and military labs that provide research, development and testing for the military.
Fort Monmouth is home to the Army’s Communications-Electronics Command, a major research and development facility.
"This is a major victory for Fort Monmouth," Holt said in a prepared statement. "The new criterion will make it much harder for the military to close the fort in the next BRAC round.
"In effect," he added, "by changing the BRAC criteria, Congress today is ordering the Pentagon to acknowledge the important contribution that Fort Monmouth and other research and development facilities make to our military."
Pallone said the military’s research and development labs play a vital role in protecting the nation’s soldiers.
"It only makes sense that this role be recognized during the BRAC process," he said in a prepared statement. "The house today [May 20] showed the Pentagon that the research and development taking place at Fort Monmouth and other labs cannot be ignored."
In January, Holt, Pallone and a bipartisan group of 16 other members of Congress sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld expressing their concern that the draft BRAC selection criteria for 2005 failed to address future military technology capabilities and asked him to add a new criterion recognizing the value of military research and development laboratories.
Rumsfeld, however, turned down their request to add the new criterion.
So Holt, Pallone and the other members decided to attempt to change the BRAC criteria legislatively. Wilson’s amendment, if also approved by the Senate, would achieve what Holt and Pallone had requested in the letter.
The goal of the Department of Defense in the 2005 BRAC round is to close 25 percent of the military installations in the United States, the largest number by far to date to be targeted by the BRAC Commission.
In New Jersey, the Senate recognized the Patriots Alliance for its efforts to keep Fort Monmouth open through the 2005 BRAC process.
The Patriots Alliance is made up of business leaders and defense contractors who have worked hand in hand with the Save Our Fort Committee, spearheaded by Holt and Pallone, on behalf of Fort Monmouth.
The state Senate commended the Patriots Alliance, in a resolution, for its work in "making sure that the U.S. Department of Defense is aware of the remarkable work being conducted at Fort Monmouth and its potential for even greater achievement."
The resolution noted that Fort Monmouth has developed equipment — including communications, radar, a GPS tracking system and for night vision — that has been used in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"In addition, the U.S. Army’s headquarters for communications and intelligence activities, known as C4ISR, is at Fort Monmouth, as well as the FBI Processing Center," the resolution went on. "Furthermore, Gov. McGreevey has recognized the importance of Fort Monmouth to the state and nation by designating it as the New Jersey Center for Homeland Defense Technologies and Security Readiness."
The resolution was sponsored by Sens. Joseph M. Kyrillos and Joseph A. Palaia, both R-Monmouth, and Ellen Karcher, D-Monmouth, all of whom represent districts that include large portions of Monmouth County.
John W. Garner, a member of the board of the Patriots Alliance, said the organization was honored that the state Senate has recognized the work it is doing on behalf of Fort Monmouth and the Fort Monmouth community.
"The work done at Fort Monmouth benefits not only this country, but all of those in countries where our military personnel are stationed," he said in a prepared statement.
Frank C. Muzzi of Vitronics in Eatontown, and former state Sen. S. Thomas Gagliano of EPS Corp. in Tinton Falls, are co-chairs of the Patriots Alliance.
Other board members, in addition to Garner of Booze Allen Hamilton Inc. in Eatontown, are Gayton J. Albanese, of Mercury Computer Systems Inc. in Point Pleasant; Anthony V. Campi, of Maktac Services in the Navesink section of Middletown; Burton Resnic, who is retired from CECOM, and Thomas W. Tremper of Lockheed Martin Corp. in Tinton Falls.