BRAC court proceedings

Now that the BRAC (Base Realignment And Closure) committee has finished its work, it's all set to send its recommendations to President Bush and Congress. However, since the recommendations include moving the planes out of some Air National Guard bases, several govenors are ticked off. This news report (free registration with the Washington Post may be necessary) discusses a couple court cases which the respective govenors had lost: one lawsuit was dismissed because the state's economy and security were not adversely affected, another was dismissed because the court found that the federal courts had no jurisdiction over BRAC proceedings. However, one court case had already found that the military cannot close national guard bases without govenor consent and another had a temporary injunction placed awaiting a hearing. What this injunction blocks, I'm not sure; I'm guessing it blocks the committee's recommendations from reaching the President, who has already promised to sign it. Massachusetts, in their standard form of weirdness, has moved to sue Defense Secretary Rumsfeld and the BRAC commission to keep one of its Air National Guard bases open, rather than moving to block the recommendation itself.

I don't really find anything against this round of BRAC. It did make alot of govenors and military personnel mad, with NAS Oceana and a well-known military hospital (it's so well-known that I don't know what it is!) being heavily realigned and closed respectively, although the committee's recommendation about NAS Oceana seems more like a threat than a recommendation for moving the major air station aspect to Florida. I'm concerned a little bit about what's going to happen with the closing of Naval Recruiting District-Omaha, since I live near Omaha and I want to join the Navy, but I'm happy that Officer Candidate School is moving to Newport, since, if I join as an officer, I'll be near family (in Fall River, MA).