Summary

During the 1995 round of base closures, the Pentagon's recommendations to close surplus military bases were generally sound, although GAO questions the reasonableness of specific recommendations. For example, some excess facilities were spared only because of high up-front shutdown costs. GAO singles out the Air Force process as particularly subjective and poorly documented. Also, the Navy did not consistently apply Defense Department (DOD) criteria when it decided to retain some facilities because of the economic impact their closure would have on local communities. Meanwhile, DOD's estimate of $1.8 billion in annual savings did not take into accounting potentially costly environmental cleanup activities at military bases.