Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have a powerful hole card to trump the Pentagon's reasoned arguments in favor of another base realignment and closure round: the costs of the last BRAC round relative to the meager savings it produced. The Defense Department calls the 2005 BRAC an anomaly. It argues that with the military in the midst of fighting two prolonged and manpower-intensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan-and defense spending at a historic high-the last round focused on "transformation" (the popular catchphrase during the tenure of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld), rather than cutting costs. The next BRAC, defense officials promise, will be different. Its focus will be eliminating unneeded infra- structure, rather than moving missions and consolidating facilities. As aresult, it will cost less and savings will stack up a lot faster.
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机译:过道两旁的议员都有强大的空洞证,可以胜过五角大楼的合理论点,而赞成另一轮基础调整和关闭回合:相对于它产生的微薄节省,上一轮BRAC的成本。国防部将2005 BRAC称为异常。它辩称,由于军队正在与伊拉克和阿富汗进行两次长时间的,人力密集的战争,国防开支达到历史最高水平,最后一轮集中在“变革”上(国防部长唐纳德任职期间的流行口号) H. Rumsfeld),而不是削减成本。国防官员保证,下一个BRAC将有所不同。它的重点将是消除不必要的基础架构,而不是移动任务和整合设施。因此,它将花费更少,并且节省的资金会更快。
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