Defense Secretary: There Will Be No BRAC In 2013

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta told the annual conference of the Association of Defense Communities in Monterey, Calif., that there will be no round of military base reviews and closures in 2013, Bloomberg Businessweek reported today.

Bloomberg quoted Panetta as saying, “It’s now clear obviously there will not be a round of BRAC authorized” in 2013, which refers to the base realignment and closure commission.  

But Bloomberg said Panetta also said: “But it’s an important debate to have and, frankly, it’s not going away.”

Groton’s sub base was targeted for partial closure in 1993 and total closure in 2005, but

The Pentagon announced last winter that BRAC might be a possiblity again in 2013, and local legislators rallied against the measure, calling it "dead on arrival."

“I continue to believe that the justification for a new BRAC round does not exist," Congressman Joe Courtney said in a prepared statement Monday.  "...but in the meantime, we as a delegation will continue to redouble our efforts to strengthen the Groton Sub Base’s military value, which is the best guarantee to an enduring future.”