The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 extended the authority of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990, with some modifications, to authorize an additional BRAC round in 2005. The legislation also required that DOD provide Congress in 2004, as part of its budget justification documents, a 20-year force structure plan, a worldwide infrastructure inventory, a description of the infrastructure necessary to support the force structure plan, a discussion of categories of excess infrastructure and infrastructure capacity, an economic analysis of the effect of BRAC on reducing excess infrastructure, and a certification that there is a need for BRAC in 2005 and that annual net savings will be realized by each military department not later than fiscal year 2011. The legislation also stipulated that if the certification is provided in DOD’s submission to Congress, GAO is to prepare an evaluation of the force structure plan, the infrastructure inventory, the final selection criteria, and the need for an additional BRAC round, and to report to Congress not later than 60 days after the force structure plan and the infrastructure inventory are submitted to Congress. The 2002 legislation also required the Secretary of Defense to publish in the Federal Register the selection criteria proposed for use in the BRAC 2005 round and to provide an opportunity for public comment. The proposed selection criteria were published on December 23, 2003, with a public comment period ending January 30, 2004. The final criteria were published on February 12, 2004. Closing unneeded defense facilities has historically been difficult because of public concern about the economic effects of closures on communities and the perceived lack of impartiality in the decision-making process. Legislative restrictions effectively precluded bases from being closed between 1977 and 1988. However, legislation enacted in 1988 supported the tasking of a special commission chartered by the Secretary of Defense to identify bases for realignment and closure and provided relief from certain statutory provisions that had hindered DOD’s previous efforts. With this legislation, a base realignment and closure round was initiated in 1988. Congress later passed the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990, which created an independent commission and authorized three BRAC rounds in 1991, 1993, and 1995. The four commissions generated 499 recommendations—97 major closures, and hundreds of smaller base realignments, closures, and other actions. However, DOD recognized at the time it was completing its recommendations for the 1995 BRAC round that excess infrastructure would remain after that round and that additional closures and realignments would be needed in the future. Subsequent Defense Science Board and Quadrennial Defense Review studies, and others, echoed the need for one or more future additional BRAC rounds, but congressional action to authorize a future BRAC round did not occur for several years, in part because of concerns over how some decisions were made in the 1995 BRAC round. Ultimately, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 extended the authority of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990, authorizing another round of base realignments and closures in 2005. Some key requirements mandated by the 1990 act or procedures adopted by DOD in implementing it to ensure the fairness and objectivity of the base closing process include: All installations must be compared equally against selection criteria and a current force structure plan developed by the Secretary of Defense. Decisions to close military installations with authorization for at least 300 civilian personnel must be made under the BRAC process. Decisions to realign military installations authorized for at least 300 civilian personnel that involve a reduction of more than 1,000, or 50 percent or more of the civilian personnel authorized, also must undergo the BRAC process. Selection criteria for identifying candidates for closure and realignment must be made available for public comment before being finalized. All components must use specific models for assessing (1) the cost and savings associated with BRAC actions and (2) the potential economic impact on communities affected by those actions. Information used in the BRAC decision-making process must be certified-–that is, certified as accurate and complete to the best of the originator’s knowledge and belief. This requirement was designed to overcome concerns about the consistency and reliability of data used in the process. An independent commission is required to review DOD’s proposed closures and realignments and to finalize a list of proposed closures and realignments to be presented to the President and, subject to the President’s approval, to Congress. The BRAC Commission is required to hold public hearings. The BRAC process imposes specific time frames for completing specific portions of the process (see app. I for time frames related to the 2005 BRAC round). The President and Congress are required to accept or reject the Commission’s recommendations in their entirety. In addition to GAO’s role in monitoring the BRAC process, service audit agencies and DOD Inspector General (IG) personnel are extensively involved in auditing the process to better ensure the accuracy of data used in decision-making and enhance the overall integrity of the process. Our work in examining lessons learned from prior BRAC rounds found general agreement that the prior legislation and the framework it outlined served the process well, and general agreement that it should provide a useful framework for a future round. That is not to say that the previous process was perfect or entirely devoid of concerns over the role of politics in the process. As we have previously noted, we recognize that no public policy process, especially none as open as BRAC, can be completely removed from the U.S. political system. However, the elements of the process noted above provide several checks and balances to keep political influences to a minimum. That said, the success of these provisions requires that all participants of the process adhere to the rules and procedures. GAO has played a long-standing role in the BRAC process. As requested by congressional committees (1988 BRAC round) or mandated by law since 1990, we have served as an independent and objective observer of the BRAC process and have assessed and reported on DOD’s decision-making processes leading up to proposed realignment and closure recommendations in each of the four prior rounds. To make informed and timely assessments, we have consistently operated in a real-time setting since the 1991 BRAC round and have had access to significant portions of the process as it has evolved, thus affording the department an opportunity to address any concerns we raised on a timely basis. By mandate, our role in the BRAC 2005 round remains the same, and we have been observing the process since DOD began work on the 2005 round. Finally, I also want to recognize the important role played by the DOD Inspector General and the military services’ audit agencies in the BRAC process. GAO has been called upon to examine various issues associated with prior BRAC rounds, including the one held in 1988. The 1990 BRAC legislation, which governed the 1991, 1993, and 1995 rounds, specifically required that we provide the BRAC Commission and Congress a detailed analysis of the Secretary of Defense’s recommendations and selection process. Legislation authorizing the 2005 BRAC round retained the requirement for a GAO review of the Secretary’s recommendations and selection process, with a report to the congressional defense committees required no later than July 1, 2005, 45 days after the latest date by which the Secretary must transmit to the congressional defense committees and the BRAC Commission his recommendations for closures or realignments. The tight time frame under which we have to report our findings on the department’s BRAC selection process and recommendations necessitates that we have access to the BRAC decision-making processes as they are unfolding within DOD. During the past rounds, DOD and its components have granted us varying degrees of access to their processes a year or more in advance of the Secretary’s public release of his recommendations for closures and realignments. This has greatly facilitated our ability to monitor the process as it was unfolding and has provided us with opportunities to address issues and potential problem areas during the process. Furthermore, it has aided our ability to complete some detailed analysis of individual recommendations in the time available after the Secretary’s proposed closures and realignments were finalized and made public. We have been observing the 2005 BRAC process since DOD’s initial work began on the 2005 round. From our vantage point, we are looking to see to what extent DOD follows a clear, transparent, consistently applied process, one where we can see a logical flow between DOD’s analysis and its decision-making. Although we do not attend or participate in deliberative meetings involving BRAC, we are permitted access to the minutes of these meetings and to officials involved in the process. I also want to acknowledge the key roles played by the DOD Inspector General and service audit agencies to help ensure the accuracy of data used in BRAC decision-making. These agencies play a front-line role in checking the accuracy of data obtained in BRAC data calls, as well as verifying data entries and output pertaining to the cost and analytical models used as part of the BRAC process. They also identify and refer any errors to defense components on a real-time basis, to facilitate corrective actions. We coordinate regularly with these other audit agencies, and in selected instances we observe the work of these audit agencies in checking the data used as part of BRAC decision-making. Another part of our role involves assessing and reporting on the status of prior BRAC recommendations. These reports provide insights into the long and tedious process of transferring unneeded base property to other federal recipients and communities for future reuse. While the actual closures and realignments of military bases in the prior rounds were completed by 2001, the processes of environmental cleanup and property transfer continue today and will most likely continue for several more years. As of September 30, 2003, DOD data show that the department has transferred over 280,000 acres of unneeded property to other users but has about 220,000 acres that have yet to be transferred.