June 13, 2005
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE RESPONDS FURTHER TO SENATORS COLLINS, LIEBERMAN’S SUBPOENA, DELIVERS ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS TO THE HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
WASHINGTON, DC—In further response to the subpoena issued by Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Susan Collins and Ranking Member Joseph Lieberman for information related to the Department of Defense’s base closure and realignment process (BRAC), Department of Defense (DoD) officials today hand-delivered several computer discs to the Committee containing thousands of pages related to the BRAC process as well as written responses to a number of issues raised by the subpoena. “I am pleased that the Department of Defense is complying with our subpoena. While it will take time to go through the documents, the information they provided us today appears to be new and significant – and it is information that we otherwise would not have had without the subpoena,” said Senator Collins. In response to the Collins-Lieberman subpoena, DoD has agreed to post on the BRAC web site certain information that the Department initially had not planned to make public. This information includes important deliberative material, which Senators Collins and Lieberman had requested, such as interim briefings that the Defense Secretary received before making his BRAC recommendations and “red teaming” exercises the Department used to explore different closing scenarios. In addition, DoD provided Senators Collins and Lieberman with all the information that it has produced at the BRAC Commission’s request and pledged to share any information that it provides to the Commission in the future. “The material also contains new information about DFAS Limestone, which we are currently reviewing and which will be helpful for the Congressional Delegation and the community to use in fighting the ill-advised decision to close that operation. This is significant because until now, the Pentagon had given us the least amount of information on this proposal, which would greatly affect Aroostook County,” said Senator Collins. DoD also pledged to continue this week providing additional data in response to the Collins-Lieberman subpoena. Senators Collins and Lieberman have agreed to allow the Department to continue working through the week to fulfill the obligations of their request.
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