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HJR 21: Relating to new evaluation and selection criteria for military base realignment and closure actions.

00HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 21 01 Relating to new evaluation and selection criteria for military base realignment and 02 closure actions. 03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 04 WHEREAS the Secretary of the United States Department of Defense has called for 05 the reestablishment of a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission to conduct two 06 new rounds of military base closures beginning in 2001; and 07 WHEREAS, under the process established for the BRAC Commissions in 1991, 1993, 08 and 1995, each of the armed services developed categories for its own bases and evaluated 09 and ranked each of its bases within those categories by applying criteria established by the 10 United States Department of Defense and the Congress; and 11 WHEREAS these single-service evaluations severely restricted the opportunity to 12 consider the effect of a base's closure on the operational readiness of the United States 13 Department of Defense's total force; and 14 WHEREAS the shortcomings of this single-service approach were recognized by the

01 1993 BRAC Commission that recommended that the United States Department of Defense 02 develop procedures for considering potential joint or common activities among the services 03 in several training and support areas; and 04 WHEREAS this recommendation led to the creation in 1994 of Joint Cross-Service 05 Groups that worked with the services in the five functional areas of depot maintenance, 06 military medical treatment facilities, test and evaluation, undergraduate pilot training, and 07 laboratories, in preparation for the 1995 BRAC round; and 08 WHEREAS the strategic challenges now facing the United States as we enter the new 09 century may require an even greater emphasis on creating and fielding a fully integrated total 10 force capable of projecting our nation's military power around the world from bases within 11 our country's borders; and 12 WHEREAS this military force structure should be supported by a military base 13 structure that is focused on strategic mobility, joint operations, and joint training 14 considerations in addition to individual service considerations; 15 BE IT RESOLVED that the Alaska State Legislature respectfully requests the 16 President of the United States, the United States Congress, and the Secretary of the United 17 States Department of Defense to establish new Joint Cross-Service Groups this year to study 18 issues of power projection and deployment, joint training, joint operations, and other total 19 force considerations; and be it 20 FURTHER RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that these Joint Cross- 21 Service Groups then be directed to develop new evaluation and selection criteria and 22 procedures based on their findings to be incorporated into any future base realignment and 23 closure proceedings to ensure that total force and power projection factors are major military 24 value considerations in base structure decisions. 25 COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Bill Clinton, President of the 26 United States; the Honorable Al Gore, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and President 27 of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable Strom Thurmond, President Pro Tem of the U.S. Senate; 28 the Honorable J. Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable 29 William S. Cohen, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense; and to the Honorable Ted 30 Stevens and the Honorable Frank Murkowski, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don Young, 31 U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.