Your Turn Guest Column Rep. Frank Pallone Rep. Rush Holt Last Friday, U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld released his proposed list of military facilities to be closed or downsized under the process known as Base Realignment and Closure, or BRAC. Unfortunately, he included Fort Monmouth on that list. We believe slating Fort Monmouth for closure is short-sighted and dangerous. Fort Monmouth is the Army’s center of gravity for research, development, testing, and evaluation (RDT&E) and network-centric warfare, formally known as Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C4ISR). The work done at Fort Monmouth helps make our soldiers effective, safe, and technologically superior. The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps also benefit from the work done at the Fort, making it a genuine joint-service asset. Though you may not know it, Fort Monmouth’s imprint is everywhere our men and women are serving. For example, engineers at the fort have developed and implemented technology that jams signals intended to detonate roadside bombs — the No. 1 killer of our soldiers in Iraq. Thanks to Fort Monmouth, our helicopters are equipped with automatic counter-measures that defend against rockets. And when enemy mortar fire is launched at our forces, Fort Monmouth-made technology locates the source of the attacker and returns fire immediately. At no time in our nation’s history has the U.S. government sought to reduce its RDT&E capability during wartime. There are sound reasons for this. Disrupting the supply chain during an open-ended conflict will inevitably result in our soldiers not getting the tools and equipment they need. As it currently stands, soldiers call Fort Monmouth when they need immediate logistical support and replacement parts. Officers call when they need a technological fix to a new weapon or method of enemy attack. The people at Fort Monmouth respond quickly and effectively. If Fort Monmouth is moved, its critical missions will be interrupted, with deadly results. We believe the Pentagon came to its recommendations due in part to faulty criteria. For example, the criteria they used made no mention of the military value of RDT&E, which is the type of work that makes our military the most technologically advanced and inter-connected in the world. Further, the BRAC criteria undervalue the fort’s highly skilled, deeply experienced workforce. Past experience has shown that the vast majority of civilian workers do not transfer out of state if their base is closed. An immense amount of expertise accrued by Fort Monmouth’s civilian employees in the areas of R&D and logistical support will be lost if the base closes, a blow that would take the Army years, if not decades, to recover from. This is something we simply cannot afford in wartime. Another blind spot in the Pentagon’s analysis was the short shrift it gave to homeland defense. Fort Monmouth’s capabilities can be used — and were, following Sept. 11, 2001 — to make our cities and towns safer from the threat of domestic terrorist attacks. New Jerseyans don’t need to be told that preserving that kind of capability is absolutely essential, but apparently the Pentagon does. While this announcement represents a setback, it is only the first salvo in what will be a lengthy, intense struggle to get Fort Monmouth off the list. For years now, we have been working closely with the Save Our Fort Committee, a coalition of local businesses and elected leaders, to prepare for this very contingency. We are organized, united, and determined to do all in our power to reverse the Pentagon’s decision. By statute, the BRAC commissioners are required to independently evaluate each Pentagon recommendation. The commission uses a different approach to decision-making than the Pentagon. This is good news. As commission members and staff visit each installation on the Pentagon’s list, they will be able to take in new information and listen to new arguments that we were prevented from making to the Pentagon. In September, the BRAC Commission will send its recommendations to President Bush and in November, the president sends a final list to Congress for an up-or-down vote. Over the coming months, we will fight to keep Fort Monmouth and to strengthen its mission. It’s a fight for our community, yes, and for the people who live here. But it’s also a fight for the men and women who rely on Fort Monmouth for their safety and effectiveness in dangerous places like Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere. For them and for us, Fort Monmouth is too valuable to close. Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. and Rush Holt are New Jersey’s Democratic congressmen representing Districts 6 and 12, respectively