Want access to post press releases? To sign up, use this form. You must be logged in.
(DELRAN) - Assemblyman Jack Conners, chairman of the Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs Committee, today said a new Government Accountability Office report shows the Pentagon must rethink the plan to close Fort Monmouth.
The report found the Army faces "significant challenges" in moving operations from Fort Monmouth to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. It found it could take until 2016 to reconstitute the fort's 5,000-member civilian workforce at Aberdeen and until 2024 to fully train the workforce to do the work now being done in New Jersey.
Fort Monmouth is set to close in 2011. It was recommended to be closed in 2005 by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The move was expected to cost $780 million but that cost is now estimated at $1.6 billion.
Conners, D-Camden, issued the following statement:
"The plan to close Fort Monmouth is a matter of great concern to New Jersey and the country. The GAO report heightens that worry, finding among other things that the Army may face trouble hiring qualified people, getting security clearances, finishing new buildings and paying for the move. This is very unsettling news.
"The idea behind closing military bases was to save money and improve troop readiness, but the GAO report indicates closing Fort Monmouth wouldn't accomplish either goal. In fact, it could impair national security and put our soldiers at risk.
"The Pentagon must reconsider this move. There's still time to keep Fort Monmouth open."
--30--
Another member of the Star-Ledger buyout group has moved over to the partisan side: Diane Walsh, a veteran reporter who covered Middlesex County, ... >
It's hard to not be concerned these days. We've all witnessed frustration with our institutions before but I never remember anything of this ... >
Instead of borrowing trillions to waste on make-work governmental projects, stimulate the economy with tax cuts. >
Score one for the Governor’s public relations team. For the last few weeks, they have been working overtime to fuel speculation Corzine was being ... >
I am pleased to report the results from the first national poll conducted by Environmental Studies Program in the College of Arts and Sciences at ... >
In December 2008, the Holy See released a new document dealing with bioethics called “Dignitas Personae.” This “instruction” from the ... >
Hard to believe we have arrived at the last year of the first decade of the 21st century. Boy, seems like it was just yesterday that Bush was handed ... >
It's actually come to this: A panel convened by the legislature of the State of New Jersey has concluded that discrimination is not good. Maybe ... >
As it tends to, history seems to be repeating itself as 240 laid-off workers at Republic Windows and Doors in Chicago revive a decades old tactic -- ... >
Many columnists write a "year in review" or a "predictions" piece for the New Year, however I decided to refrain from going down ... >
Five Democrat governors including New Jersey’s Jon Corzine and New York’s David Paterson have called upon the incoming Obama administration to ... >