I just wanted to post a huge thanks to everyone who showed up tuesday to greet the commissioners. And another huge thanks to the Portsmouth Herald for continuing to keep the truth about this in the open.

This is important from Senator Snowe:

WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Olympia J. Snowe (R-ME), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, recently spoke by phone with Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission Chairman Anthony Principi regarding a Department of Defense annual report to Congress entitled The Military Power of the People’s Republic of China 2005. Snowe believes this report on China’s escalating military buildup underscores the need for the BRAC Commission to fully analyze the emerging threats before deciding on the recommendations for Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Naval Air Station Brunswick

“After reading this eye-opening report, I believe it is absolutely essential that the BRAC Commission consider the implications of China’s growing naval power on the need to keep Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and Brunswick Naval Air Station open,” said Snowe. “I urged Chairman Principi to carefully weigh the report’s conclusions as he and the other Commissioners approach their final decisions. With China emerging as a rival naval power, amassing a surface and submarine force that is rapidly overtaking our own, now is not the time to weaken our Navy by closing two of its most essential facilities.”

The report concludes that “over the long term, if current trends persist, PLA [China’s armed forces] capabilities could pose a credible threat to other modern militaries operating in the region.” Additionally, the report highlights that “PLA preparations, including an expanding force of ballistic missiles (long-range and short-range), cruise missiles, submarines, advanced aircraft, and other modern systems” challenge any assessment that suggests that China aspires to a “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan.

China has steadily increased its defense budget since the early nineties doubling the overall amount of resources dedicated to military spending. The report also states that “Beijing is in serial production of the domestic SONG-class submarine, acquiring more Russian KILO-class submarines, developing a new YUAN-class conventional submarine, and developing the Type-093 nuclear attack submarine for missions requiring greater at-sea endurance.”

As reported in Defense Today, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, stated that "’we've got to be careful we don't fall victim’ to short-sightedness, and take care to avoid focusing only on the current war rather than perhaps very different threats in future.” The report also noted that “DOD…has shifted toward lighter and more agile assets designed to counter terrorists and rogue states, and away from procuring weapons systems designed to counter major military powers such as China.”

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