" We're not "In the Loop" and we know it. He's not "In the Loop" but he
doesn't know it:-). I think its been the experience of the people in
the group that they have seen many people at bases about to be "BRACed"
talking about how they KNEW they would not be closed. Boom, the list
comes out and they're on it. The DOD is famous for building nice new
facilities on bases that get BRACed the next year.

I don't think there are many people "in the loop" period ... certainly no
one who regularly visits this newsgroup. OTOH, some of us have BRAC
experience (in my case 91, 93, and 95) so we're intimately familiar with the
process and how the players were arranged on the field in the past.

The logic that placed various facilities on BRAC lists in the past was not
always very logical (one of my favorites is relocating the Navy's mine
warfare assets at Ingleside, TX where they're nowhere near the forces
they're supposed to support). The logic for 2005 will be centered at
SecDef, not the service secretaries ... that'll alter the game.

Some rules have changed. Perhaps most significant is that closed bases do
no have to be turned over to their local communities for reuse. They can
just turn off the lights, padlock the gate and mothball the site. A nice
death penalty for the community.

R / John