As others had before them, BRAC commissioners criticized the timing of the 2005 base closure and realignment process, saying, in a chapter titled “Issues for Further Consideration,” which begins on p. 305 of their final report, that they had conducted their work “during a national strategic debate with an uncertain outcome.” They are referring, of course, to the ongoing Quadrennial Defense Review—now not due to be completed till after the New Year. Essentially, say the commissioners, their analysis rested on the 2001 QDR—a lot has changed since then. (Need bedtime reading? Here’s the final report.)
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…