Lobbyists: Prepare to protect Cherry Point

Lobbyists told Havelock commissioners this week that they didn’t think a base realignment and closure commission would be assembled in 2013. Still, they said one was coming and the region needed to get ready to protect Cherry Point.

Michael Willis, of Marlowe and Co., the Havelock-hired lobbying company in Washington, updated the Board of Commissioners at a planning retreat Tuesday at the Havelock Tourist and Event Center.

President Barack Obama, who is up for re-election this November, has called for a BRAC in 2013.

"I don’t think they can get it done in time," Willis said.

Jaime Norment, speaking on behalf of Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow, a local lobbying group charged with defense of Cherry Point and Fleet Readiness Center East, agreed.

"We don’t know if that means that they’ll vote in 2013 and implement it sometime in 2014," Norment said. "I think it is highly unlikely that they will vote in 2012 to have a 2013 BRAC."

Norment said that Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate have expressed displeasure at having a BRAC in 2013, and U.S. Rep. Walter B. Jones, who represents this area, has stressed the need to look at overseas bases before any bases are closed in the United States.

Still, Norment said officials should expect a BRAC in either 2014 or 2015.

Even without a BRAC, the president’s proposed budget released this week is enough reason for local base supporters to be concerned, Norment said.

"Unfortunately we don’t know the details of who, what, where and when as far as those cuts go," Norment said. "It is going to be something that we absolutely have to follow because it could potentially affect Cherry Point directly and certainly indirectly.

"I’m most focused now on four tactical air squadrons. We have tactical air squadrons at Cherry Point, and we don’t want to lose any of them. I don’t think we’re on the list because of the unique nature of the Harrier and because the phase-out of the Prowlers is already planned. It is something that we absolutely have to watch for."

Cherry Point has four EA-6B Prowler squadrons that will be phased out from 2016 to 2019, according to Marine Corps officials. Combine that with the scheduled move of two Cherry Point helicopter squadrons to New River, and Cherry Point’s current 13 air squadrons will be down to seven by 2019.

The Marine Corps has also announced a one- to two-year delay in the arrival of F-35B Joint Strike Fighter squadrons to Cherry Point, pushing the arrival to 2021 or 2022, as well as a reduction in the number of Cherry Point F-35B squadrons from eight to six.

It’s these reductions that have local base supporters concerned that Cherry Point would be left vulnerable in any BRAC process.

Norment said the BRAC process is supposed to be conducted on an open playing field with military leaders and local communities participating in a transparent, democratic fashion. But he said a BRAC is not needed for significant shuffling of assets at Cherry Point.

"All that is going to be on the table in 2012, 2013 — not necessarily in a BRAC but what we would call a backdoor BRAC, something that we need to be very focused on," he said. "Right now the president and the Pentagon have the authority to close FRC East today if he wanted to just because of the way the law is written. The law is written in such a way as to encourage the administration not to do that.

"It certainly increases our anxiety and increases the need to be diligent in our work."

Norment also provided information about a Monday meeting with Gov. Beverly Perdue. He said Perdue recommended a BRAC Task Force to protect Cherry Point and FRC East.

Perdue, who has announced that she won’t see re-election this year, told a small group that included Norment and Havelock Mayor and ACT president Jimmy Sanders that she intended to bring gubernatorial candidates to Cherry Point and FRC East to make the importance of the base clear.

Norment was providing the update to commissioners as they and city staff begin the 2012-13 budget process. In the past, the city budget has included money for ACT.