Thirty years ago this month, the nation’s defense-dependent communities held their collective breath as the military services announced which bases were being recommended for closure. It was a new foul four-letter acronym that entered the American vernacular – BRAC, or more formally known as Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
Congress knew there needed to be a new system for reducing military base infrastructure, but it also recognized that allowing the individual services to make those life and death decisions for defense communities would be a death knell for the reelection of some members of Congress.
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