BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
Why the Pentagon would consider moving Fort Monmouth’s operations to Aberdeen, Md., instead of vice versa, is something that the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission will be exploring this summer, according to its top commissioner.
But neither of the BRAC commissioners who toured Fort Monmouth last Friday would promise that they or their colleagues on the nine-member body would collectively choose to reverse the Pentagon’s recommendation to shutter the fort as part of a nationwide effort to restructure the country’s military installations.
CHRIS KELLY staff Protesters like Jim Cafiero (l) took refuge under umbrellas as they stood outside Fort Monmouth in the early morning rain June 3, awaiting the arrival of BRAC commissioners. Nonetheless, Anthony J. Principi and retired U.S. Air Force Gen. Lloyd Newton, the two BRAC commissioners who toured Fort Monmouth, admitted to a courtroom full of area legislators, local leaders, fort contractors, and reporters that they were impressed with the operations they had observed on the base just hours before.
Principi, the head commissioner, and Newton pledged to those assembled at a post-tour press conference at Eatontown Borough Hall that they would go back to Washington, D.C., and share their findings with the other members of the BRAC Commission.
BRAC Commissioner Anthony J. Principi The commission, previously appointed by President George W. Bush, is currently reviewing the Pentagon’s listing of 33 military installations, including Fort Monmouth, that could be mothballed or restructured under the BRAC process.
If the BRAC Commission endorses the Pentagon plan announced last month, Fort Monmouth would begin closing within two to six years and most of its communications and electronics commands would be relocated to Aberdeen (Md.) Proving Ground.
“There was quite a bit I didn’t know about Fort Monmouth. It has a unique capability and unique research and development capabilities,” Principi told a contingent of legislators including acting Gov. Richard Codey and U.S. Representatives Christopher H. Smith (R-4), Frank Pallone (D-6) and Rush Holt (D-12).
“We now have to go back and hear the Pentagon’s position,” he continued. “But we’re coming away with a much better understanding and many more questions. We’re absolutely open to being independent, nonpolitical and nonpartisan.”
Until all of the commissioners scrutinize the data collected during the day’s visit, the Pentagon’s recommendation that Fort Monmouth shut down will remain just that, Newton said.
“No decision has been made [about Fort Monmouth]. That’s why we’re here.” Newton said. “We try very hard not to come to any decision now.”
Echoing what Pallone and Holt, co-chairs of the Save Our Fort Committee, have stated in speeches intended to rally support for protecting the base from closure, Principi agreed that the BRAC Commission is looking out for the armed forces fighting on foreign battlefields.
“In the final analysis, it’s about the men and women who go into harm’s way,” Principi said.
The head commissioner also publicly acknowledged a possible “loss of brain power” if only 10 to 15 percent of the civilian scientists, engineers and other technical staff now working at the fort actually pull up roots from New Jersey and move to Maryland.
Rebuilding the workforce at Aberdeen Proving Ground to levels now existing at Fort Monmouth could take more than 10 years, Principi admitted.
“We will ask, ‘Why is Fort Monmouth moving to Aberdeen [Proving Ground] instead of Aberdeen moving to Fort Monmouth?’ ” Principi said. “We need to analyze the data to make the right decision.”
Whether or not it appears that Fort Monmouth can serve all branches of the armed forces and prove its overall military value in the future will be taken into consideration by the BRAC commissioners as they review the Pentagon’s recommendations for closing and restructuring installations, Principi said.
The Pentagon’s proposal to close Fort Monmouth is not a done deal, Codey stressed in his remarks following the two commissioners’ comments.
However, the acting governor, who came to Eatontown to personally greet Principi and Newton, criticized the Pentagon’s suggestion to move Fort Monmouth, which he described as a “communications and electronics Mecca” during wartime.
“I thought this decision was the wrong place at the wrong time,” Codey said. “Fort Monmouth is a center of excellence. With all due respect to Aberdeen, Maryland, they’re not.”
Most of the fort’s 5,300 civilian employees will not relocate, but will instead choose to stay in New Jersey and seek private-sector jobs, Codey predicted.
The Governor’s Commission to Support and Enhance New Jersey’s Military and Coast Guard Installations is now undertaking a $200,000 study of the BRAC report that recommended closing Fort Monmouth and expects to prove that a “brain drain” will result should the Pentagon try to rebuild the fort’s existing functions in Maryland, the acting governor went on.
“I think and I hope it will say that this is the wrong place at the wrong time [to close Fort Monmouth],” Codey said.
With installations such as Fort Dix, McGuire Air Force Base and Lakehurst Naval Air Station within an hour’s ride, the Pentagon should consider including Fort Monmouth in the “megabase” that has been proposed for the state by the Defense Department, Smith said.
Fort Monmouth lends itself to the “synergy” that can be realized by using the facilities at the other installations located in Ocean and Burlington counties, Smith continued.
“It’s unconscionable that we would let loose of that capability,” Smith said. “Thankfully, this is an independent commission that will not rubber-stamp this [recommendation].”
Pallone and Holt, who had originally extended a personal invitation via a letter to Principi within days of the Pentagon’s release of the BRAC list, asked both commissioners to put the safety of the armed forces first.
“We are here protecting the soldier and doing the right thing for the military,” Pallone said.
In its recommendation, the Pentagon has “ignored” Fort Monmouth’s service not only to the U.S. Army, but to all branches of the military, he said.
“If you move Fort Monmouth to Maryland, that jointness will be completely lost,” Pallone said.
“There’s no question that Fort Monmouth is doing an excellent job for the men and women in the field,” Holt said. “The support that Fort Monmouth gets from New Jersey makes it possible for Fort Monmouth to do the excellent job it does.
“It could not be made up in a similar way elsewhere,” Holt said.
Though the mayors of Fort Monmouth’s three host communities expressed some optimism after hearing Principi’s comments, they’re not getting their hopes up.
The visit by the two commissioners will help the local leaders to continue building momentum to keep the fort open, said Oceanport Mayor Maria Gatta.
At the same time, host communities should not take on a “false sense of security,” she added.
The message from the host communities came through “loud and clear,” Eatontown Mayor Gerald J. Tarantolo said.
“I feel confident that we made a major impression on the two BRAC commissioners,” he said.
Tinton Falls Mayor Ann Y. McNamara believes the presentation by Monmouth University President retired Rear Adm. Paul G. Gaffney II, and Bob Giordano, a military consultant hired by the Save Our Fort Committee, about how Fort Monmouth develops communications and electronics devices for all branches of the military, might sell the advocates’ case to the commissioners.
“I hope this works, because I think moving [Fort Monmouth] would be such a mistake,” McNamara said.
Once the BRAC Commission finishes visiting all of the installations targeted for closure, it will review and possibly revise the Pentagon’s listed recommendations.
The commissioners will then send their recommendations to Bush for his review by Sept. 8.

