Legal Aid

House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Howard "Buck" McKeon (D-CA), readiness subcommittee Ranking Member Randy Forbes (D-VA) and oversight and investigations Ranking Member Rob Wittman (D-VA) are demanding to know the legal basis behind Defense Secretary Robert Gates' proposed closure of U.S. Joint Forces Command.

In a letter sent yesterday to Gates, the lawmakers write:

The House Armed Services Committee supports your efforts to achieve budgetary growth in force structure and modernization accounts, but have growing concerns about the complex process being used to achieve the reductions and eliminations necessary to achieve that growth. While all of us desire efficient government, the Department's aggressive, four track approach to finding efficiencies throughout the Department could lead to critical capability gaps without deliberate oversight review.

Forbes, in a statement accompanying the letter, said: "If the decision to close JFCOM is as deliberate as the Department of Defense claims it was, then there is no reason they should not respond to a request from Congress for information related to the decision. This is our second request for this information, and we will continue to ask for it until we are given answers."

Specifically, the lawmakers' letter requests the Pentagon to provide the following documents by Sept. 10:

1)    A copy of the Secretary of Defense General Counsel’s legal opinion, along with supporting rationale, that concluded that the closing of U.S. Joint Forces Command does not trigger a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action.

2)    A copy of the report/written recommendation provided by the Director of Cost Assessment and Performance Evaluation and other senior staff that included a further analysis of each of the elements of the decision.

3)    Any business case analysis prepared by the Department of Defense that documents the extent to the decision will produce savings, reduce duplication and overhead in the defense enterprise, and instill a culture of savings and restraint across the Department.

4)    The terms of reference/ implementation memo provided to the task force led by the Secretary of Defense Chief of Staff and to the Commander of U.S. Joint Forces Command, detailing guidance and expectations for implementation of these decisions.

Forbes said in the statement that he had initially requested the items at an Aug. 10 committee briefing, but nothing had been received since then.

Last month, members of the Virginia congressional delegation challenged the legality of Gates' plan to close JFCOM and lambasted the Defense Business Board's study -- on which the move to close the Virginia facility was partially based -- as "superficial research" lacking "analytical rigor."