Lobbying charges spark resignation

Charges that the Air Force improperly lobbied Congress against a plan to merge military bases contributed to the sudden resignation this week of a top Air Force official.

William Anderson, the Air Force’s assistant secretary for installations, environment and logistics, submitted a sharply worded letter of resignation on Monday that cited the change in Air Force leadership as the reason for his resignation.

“The changes effectively limit my ability to serve a top priority you support: To take care of Airmen and their families with the vigor and focus they most certainly deserve,” Anderson wrote.

The letter seemed intended to support the two Air Force leaders who were forced to resign by Defense Secretary Robert Gates earlier this summer.

“I pray to God that the Washington brain trust sees the wisdom in supporting the visionary strategic thinking that has vaulted and sustained the United States Air Force … celebrating, rather than chastising, those who paint outside the lines,” Anderson wrote.

Anderson did not mention the merging of bases — known as “joint basing” — in his resignation letter to the White House and the Pentagon, but a Defense Department source familiar with his resignation said that it had contributed to Anderson’s decision to leave.

Former Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Moseley and Michael Wynne, the service’s former secretary, were ousted over several mishaps with nuclear materials, according to a Pentagon source. But the two officials had also come under criticism from Pentagon leaders over strategy and assets, including how to execute joint bases, according to Pentagon and congressional sources.

Joint basing is an initiative that requires branches of the military to consolidate bases to save money.

Wynne, then in a different position in the Pentagon, initiated the concept. But Air Force officials later under the leadership of Wynne and Moseley raised concerns about the way the initiative was being carried out.

Congressional sources said joint basing concerns have spread across the country. They said local communities fear that joint basing could create clashes between services, negatively affect employment and hamper military rotation assignments.

The Air Force was the only service that went public with its concerns, according to Mike Yuen, a spokesman to Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).

GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) has charged that Air Force officials lobbied for language in the 2008 emergency supplemental that would allow a military service secretary to veto a decision on joint basing by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC).

“I believe it is inappropriate for senior Air Force officials to lobby legislators to delay or overturn BRAC decisions,” McCain wrote in a letter to Gates in May.

McCain’s charges prompted Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England to ask the Air Force to investigate whether officials improperly lobbied Congress on joint basing.

The provision targeted by McCain was sponsored by Sens. Inouye and Ted Stevens (R-Alaska), the leading defense appropriators. It would prohibit funds from being spent on joint basing if a military service secretary finds it would not significantly save money or that it would hurt the military’s morale.

Anderson and other Air Force officials publicly supported joint basing, but also expressed concerns. This was part of a rift between the Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense and other military services over how to execute the concept.

In public testimony, Anderson said he wanted to make joint basing “ a raging success.” He said the Air Force would prefer to keep controlling its real estate and budget, while the new military service tasked to be the manager would provide a whole range of services. Anderson believed that this approach would drive up the quality of the services and drive down the cost.

The language in the supplemental follows a 2005 BRAC decision that the Air Force would manage six joint bases, the Navy four and the Army two. Congress approved the commission’s recommendations into law.

The stakes could be high for Hawaii, Inouye’s state, as Hickam Air Force Base is slated to merge with the Navy’s Pearl Harbor base.

Senate staff had sent written questions to Anderson and the Air Force about joint basing and issues with the latest round of base closures, said the source familiar with Anderson’s resignation. Anderson answered the questions straightforwardly, explaining the Air Force’s concerns.

Two other areas contributed to Anderson’s resignation: the standing-up of a new cyber command, for which the Air Force took the lead, as well as the Air Force’s energy plan, with which the Office of the Secretary of Defense does not agree.

In his resignation letter, Anderson said that he can no longer “draw on a critical mass of leadership at the Pentagon.”