The USA’s military has been shrinking for decades, but the politics involved in closing military bases in Congressional districts made it difficult to keep fixed costs in line. The level of waste involved finally resulted in the BRAC approach.

Under the Base Realignment And Closure (BRAC) process, the Secretary of Defense makes recommendations to a commission nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The commission reviews these recommendations and makes their own recommendations to the President – in 2005, this is scheduled to happen by Sept. 8/05. The President then reviews the recommendation and either sends it back to the commission for additional work or forwards it, without changes, to the Congress. The recommendations of the commission then go into effect unless disapproved in their entirety by a joint resolution of the U.S. Congress.

As of Saturday, Aug 27/05, the 2005 BRAC Commission has finished its deliberations.

• BRAC Commission Official Site. There is also a page devoted to their final deliberations regarding several contentious issues.

• The U.S. Department of Defense’s DefenseLINK BRAC site has numerous updates, as well as a few stories about communities who have coped with the aftermath of a base closing successfully.

• Recent Google News items re: BRAC. There’s lots of it. The Indianapolis Star also has a Brac Vote Highlights article, which covers some of the key decisions faced by the BRAC Commission in its final stages.