Wilson Pleased By Navy Chief’s Testimony on BRAC

Today, Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) made the following remarks in response to the testimony of Admiral Vernon E. Clark, Chief of Naval Operations, given yesterday before the House Armed Services Committee."Admiral Clark made it very clear that facilities located on shorelines and with ample airspace were crucial to military training and readiness needs," said Rep. Wilson. "Obviously, this is very good news for the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort. This has been integral to military operations for decades, and has enjoyed overwhelming support from the Lowcountry community."Yesterday, Rep. Wilson questioned Admiral Clark about the Tactical Air Integration program during a hearing of the House Armed Services Committee, of which Rep. Wilson is a member. The Tactical Air Integration program will place more Marines in positions of leadership aboard carriers and more Navy pilots at Marine Corps shore-based commands. Wilson asked what impact this may have on the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC).In his response, Admiral Clark gave a very positive outlook, stating:"I can't tell you how (Tactical Air Integration) will impact BRAC, because the analysis will have to be done during the BRAC process to evaluate capabilities."I can tell you this, across the structure, I have some types of land that are tremendously important to me, such that I cling to, and that is airspace and waterfront property. And so the analysis to be done on what the future shorebase structure needs to look like has to be done carefully to protect the operational requirements in the future. I won't prejudge it, but I will tell you that those areas are a priority to me, I must have airspace, in order to effectively and in a very demanding way, train and test our people before they go into combat. And that requires the right volume of airspace. And of course waterfront property goes without saying what the nature of that is for us."###