Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Defense's (DOD) process for selecting domestic military bases as candidates for closure and realignment in January 1990.

GAO found that: (1) DOD did not provide specific written guidance to the services on how to select candidate bases for closure and realignment; (2) the services' subsequent selection of candidate bases was not as comprehensive and well documented as their selection of candidate bases after the 1988 Commission on Base Realignment and Closure made recommendations; (3) the Air Force selected Eaker Air Force Base as a candidate for closure since it received the lowest overall rating of six domestic bases that have B-52G aircraft planned for retirement; (4) the services did not adequately document their selection of candidate bases which prevented the proper assessment of the adequacy and reasonableness of the analysis; and (5) DOD will need to reevaluate candidate bases that meet new criteria established by an independent commission and the DOD reduced force structure plan against whatever criteria it establishes.