April 29, 2004

LANSING – Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today appointed a task force to help protect thousands of Michigan jobs by avoiding the closure of military facilities in Michigan during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process authorized by Congress.  The BRAC process is expected to result in 20 to 25 percent fewer domestic military facilities across the United States.
 
“This effort is about protecting our homeland security and protecting our job base,” Granholm said.  “Michigan’s military facilities have a much deeper impact than we sometimes realize.  They provide jobs, not just for military families, but in the local communities where they are located.  They are also a key link in our homeland security chain
 
“This task force will be instrumental in working with those local committees and local communities across the state to ensure that we do everything within our power to retain the military facilities in our state,” Granholm added. 
 
The task force will be marshalling efforts to keep all of the military facilities in Michigan open.  It is charged with ensuring that local BRAC groups are convened and moving forward; providing local BRAC groups with background information and updates on the BRAC process; assisting with research and analysis that might be needed by the local groups as they prepare their reports; facilitating lobbying efforts; and other support as necessary and appropriate.
 
Co-chairing the Governor’s Task Force to Protect Michigan’s Military Facilities are Brigadier General Robert Mansfield, Jr. (Ret.) and Robert Truxell.
 
Mansfield is a retired Brigadier General with the U.S. Air Force who was Commander for the Reutilization and Marketing Service at the Defense Logistics Agency in Battle Creek.  He is currently employed by Altarum.  Truxell retired as vice president of General Motors’ Truck and Bus Group in 1983.  In 1991, he retired from General Dynamics where he was vice president in charge of the Land Systems Division.  He served in the U.S. Army during World War II. 
 
Also serving are:

M. Peter McPherson, president of Michigan State University.  He recently returned from his position as Director of Economic Policy in Iraq and has held various positions in the George H.W. Bush and Reagan administrations.

William Brooks, chairman of United American Healthcare Corp., retired U.S. Air Force officer, and retired vice president of General Motors.  Brooks served in the Nixon, George H. W. Bush, and Clinton administrations.

Major General Bill Henderson (Ret.), Vietnam veteran, formerly chief pilot for General Motors where he was director of flight operations. 

Major General Bruce MacDonald (Ret.), formerly of General Motors and retired U.S. Army Major General; currently a principal of Liebler MacDonald LLD, a strategic communications company. 

Joe Dolan, national representative for Michigan of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), representing federal government workers. 

Major General E. Gordon Stump (Ret.), formerly Michigan’s Adjutant General and head of the Department of Military Affairs; currently a consultant in the defense industry.

Brigadier General Roger Burrows (Ret.), former Commander of the 177th Military Police Brigade, Michigan Army National Guard; currently works for Venture Management Systems in Sterling Heights. 

Mitch Irwin, director of the Department of Management and Budget (DMB)

Dave Hollister, director of the Department of Labor and Economic Growth (DLEG)

Don Jakeway, president/CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC)

Staff from the MEDC and DLEG as well as the Governor’s southeast Michigan and Washington, D.C. offices will assist the task force in its work.   

Michigan facilities that will be evaluated as part of the BRAC process are:   the Defense Logistics Information Service (DLIS)/Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center, Battle Creek; the W.K. Kellogg Field/110th Fighter Wing Division Air National Guard, Battle Creek; Fort Custer Army National Guard Base, Battle Creek; the Army's Tank-Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM), Warren; and Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mt. Clemens.  Combined, the military facilities account for 7,015 direct jobs and another 5,200 military personnel who are housed and/or trained at these sites.  That does not include the spin-off jobs in the communities and industries that these facilities cover.
 
The BRAC process is underway.  On May 16, 2005, a list of installations recommended for closure or realignment will be published. After presidential review in the fall of 2005, the process must be completed and voted on by Congress no later than April 15, 2006.
 
BRAC 2005’s expected closures is equivalent to the total of four prior base closure rounds in the 1980s and 1990s combined, which resulted in significant losses for Michigan, including the closing of Wurtsmith Air Force Base in Iosco County, K.I. Sawyer Air Force base in Marquette County, and the Warren Tank Arsenal in Warren.