WLB to Pentagon: Fort Monmouth should stay

Council moves to oppose Pentagon

BY SUE M. MORGAN Staff Writer

BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer

West Long Branch West Long Branch WEST LONG BRANCH — Leaders of this borough are joining their counterparts in neighboring communities to protest the proposed shutdown of Fort Monmouth.

During its June 1 meeting, the Borough Council unanimously and without discussion approved a resolution condemning the Pentagon’s recommendation that Fort Monmouth be closed as part of the Defense Department’s forthcoming Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process.

A copy of the borough’s resolution will be forwarded to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and the members of the federal BRAC Commission, the nine-member body appointed by President George W. Bush to review the Pentagon’s list of 33 military installations proposed for shuttering as a cost-cutting measure.

Governing bodies in all Monmouth County municipalities will be sent a copy of the West Long Branch resolution as well.

Fort Monmouth, the county’s largest employer with over 5,000 military and civilian workers contributes over $3 billion to the local and state economies. Closure of the base, spread between Eatontown, Oceanport and Tinton Falls, “would not only put thousands of people out of work, but would also have a devastating impact on local businesses,” the resolution states.

In addition, as home of the U.S. Army’s Communications and Electronics Command (CECOM), Fort Monmouth has developed “state-of-the-art battlefield technology, including many devices currently being used by our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq,” the resolution reads.

As a result, “keeping Fort Monmouth open is not only vital to the economy of the state and the county, but also to our nation’s efforts in Iraq and the war on terror,” the resolution states.

Though West Long Branch is not one of the fort’s host communities and does not neighbor the base, officials here have expressed concern about the ripple effect on local businesses that serve civilian and military personnel working there.

West Long Branch has another connection to the local battle to maintain the fort in its present state. Retired Vice Adm. Paul G. Gaffney II, president of Monmouth University, which is located in the borough, chairs the Governor’s Commission to Support and Enhance New Jersey’s Military and Coast Guard Installations, a group appointed by Acting Gov. Richard Codey.

That group has committed to undertaking a $200,000 study to review how the Pentagon’s recommendation to shutter the local base could affect the soldiers who use the products researched and developed there.

If the federal BRAC Commission agrees with the Pentagon that Fort Monmouth merits closing, the bulk of its operations, including its civilian workforce, would be relocated to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen, Md., within two to six years.

Other commands now at the fort could be moved to installations elsewhere in Maryland, as well as Ohio, Virginia and West Point, N.Y., Pentagon officials have said.

The mayors of the three host communities as well as the mayors of neighboring Little Silver and Shrewsbury have gone on record to oppose the Pentagon plan and have been involved in the Save Our Fort committee, a local advocacy group of political and business leaders dedicated to keeping the base open.