04/04/1997 03:30 PM House MLV

SJR 22 - ALASKA MILITARY BASES                                                 
                                                                               
CHAIR MASEK indicated the committee would consider SENATE JOINT                
RESOLUTION NO. 22, "Inviting the United States Department of                   
Defense to select Alaska as the site to base and train military                
troops."                                                                       
                                                                               
CHRIS NELSON, Staff, Senator Robin Taylor, came forward to testify             
on SJR 22.  This legislation is in response to military base                   
closures and the future of Alaska's military bases.  This                      
resolution would send a clear message to the Department of Defense             
and the Clinton Administration that Alaska is open for business.               
Alaska has a very robust base structure presently that offers                  
outstanding military value in a changing world environment.  The               
resolution speaks for itself and he hoped it would receive                     
favorable attention.                                                           
                                                                               
Number 150                                                                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE REGGIE JOULE referred to the term "spectrum of                  
conflict" used and its meaning in the resolution.                              
                                                                               
MR. NELSON responded that this term was a military paradigm that is            
used to analyze operations where they are in a given world                     
situation.  The spectrum of conflict ranges from where the United              
States is today which is peaceful competition between nations                  
through to global, thermal, nuclear war.  They speak about putting             
together a multi-spectrum force which is capable of being organized            
and deployed to meet any kind of threat, anywhere in the world, at             
any point in this spectrum of conflict, from low intensity conflict            
up to mid-intensity conflict (which was fought in the Persian Gulf             
with heavy mechanized forces and combined arms with large                      
formations), on up to the ultimate.                                            
                                                                               
Number 228                                                                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JOULE asked that if more military was attracted to              
Alaska for training would this mean Alaska would become more of a              
target.                                                                        
                                                                               
MR. NELSON responded that he didn't think so.  If forces are                   
rotated in and out of the state, there would not be much of an                 
infrastructure to attack.  They do not propose to expand the                   
infrastructure, but use to a fuller capacity the infrastructure                
that currently exists.  Alaska lost their division here.  The sixth            
Infantry Division was inactivated in 1995 and Alaska was left with             
a single infantry brigade, a single airborne battalion on Fort                 
Richardson capable of housing a division if necessary.  He didn't              
think that increasing their forces would make Alaska anymore of a              
target than it is currently.  He noted that their existing Air                 
Force installation is a lucrative target presently.                            
                                                                               
Number 330                                                                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE ELDON MULDER also noted that in the event of a                  
conflict, most of Alaska's personnel would have already been                   
deployed and he pointed out that Alaska's biggest target, the oil              
pipeline, already exists.  An attack on the pipeline would cripple             
the United States in the long term.                                            
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JOULE added that he didn't disagree with the                    
resolution, but he worried about the amounts of people relocated to            
the state and how this would change Alaska's representation made up            
through reapportionment.                                                       
                                                                               
Number 454                                                                     
                                                                               
MR. NELSON responded that what they'd probably see in the next                 
reapportionment is an adjustment in representation because they                
have lost so many people.  Alaska lost 2,000 solders and                       
approximately 3,000 dependents for a total loss of 5,000 off the               
Fort Richardson military reservation when the division stood down.             
If they can encourage people to come back up then they will                    
probably see more of a restoration of their previous status.  A                
problem exists in the entire base picture which is that they have              
no aligned base structure with their reductions in force structure.            
From the army's standpoint they went from 16 active component                  
divisions in 1988 to 10 active component divisions today.  The                 
federal government might take down one more division, although they            
can't decide which one.                                                        
                                                                               
MR. NELSON continued that the United States has gone from 890,000              
soldiers on active duty in the army in 1988 to 495,000 in the                  
active component serving today.  There has been these massive                  
reductions in force structure yet the United States has 12 maneuver            
bases which means they have enough range area capable of supporting            
a division.  Out of the ten remaining divisions worldwide only                 
seven of them are based in the United States.  Two of them are in              
Germany and one in Korea.  Twelve of these maneuver bases are                  
capable of supporting a division.  Two of them are in Alaska, Fort             
Wainwright and Fort Richardson.  There are only seven divisions and            
this is part of the problem.  There is real pressure to take out               
more maneuver bases.  Senator Stevens has been one of the people               
visionary enough to oppose this.  This need may not be immediate,              
but in some point in time the army will need maneuver bases.  In               
the future the United States will be so urbanized that they won't              
be able to find these areas and get them back up.                              
                                                                               
Number 612                                                                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE MULDER thought there was an additional reason to                
justify attracting new troops to Alaska.  There is a lot of                    
pressure on the armed guards, the armory and air force in relation             
to downsizing.  He believed that if they continued to see the army             
and air force presence diminished the justification will be lost               
for the need for a good army and air guard in Alaska as well.  They            
certainly work as a triad in the state.  If there is a healthy                 
military component in the army guard this in turn helps rural                  
Alaska.  He noted that the air and army guard are much more than               
just a military presence.                                                      
                                                                               
Number 703                                                                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE JOE RYAN added that the type of air space needed to             
do the type of training required in the Lower 48 almost doesn't                
exist any longer.  Alaska has the component of uncontrolled air                
space that can be made in military operation areas.  This would be             
the type of training needed in low level support situations.  He               
noted the simulated warfare opportunities because of the terrain in            
Alaska.                                                                        
                                                                               
Number 781                                                                     
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE RYAN moved and asked unanimous consent to move SJR
 out of committee with individual recommendations and                        
accompanying zero fiscal note.  Hearing no objection, HJR 22 was               
moved out of the House Special Committee on Military and Veterans              
Affairs.                                                                       
                                                                               
REPRESENTATIVE RICHARD FOSTER made mention that he and                         
Representative Ivan Ivan had been added as co-sponsors to this                 
bill.  He also asked about some of the representatives taking tours            
of Alaska's bases during the interim.  This request would be                   
researched.