The facilities that could be targeted are in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maine, North Carolina, North Dakota and Washington, D.C.
The release Friday of the new list — formally, a request to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for additional information — is required before commissioners can visit the installations on fact-finding missions. Commissioners will vote July 19 on whether to add the bases to the list, which eventually goes to Congress and President Bush for final approval.
Among the questions raised by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission are ones boosters of their local military facilities have been raising at BRAC hearings across the country.
For example, the commissioners want more information on whether Pentagon plans to shut down or eliminate aircraft from several Air National Guard bases would hurt homeland security and whether state National Guard officials were properly consulted.
The commissioners also want to know whether the Pentagon's plan to merge several Defense Finance and Accounting Services offices is the most cost-effective option.
"This doesn't mean we will add a base (to the Pentagon recommendations) in all instances," said Robert McCreary, a spokesman for the commission. "We're just asking for more information, for comparison reasons."
In past base-closing rounds, most installations on the "add list" have survived the process.
But rules governing this round of closings make it more difficult than ever for commissioners to expand on the Pentagon's list. Approval from seven of nine members is required to add a base to the closings list. In past rounds, only a majority was needed.
Also, two commissioners must visit any base recommended to be added to the list, and another vote by at least seven members would be needed to add bases to the final list.
The commission is reviewing a Pentagon proposal to close 33 major U.S. bases and restructure 29 others in an effort to increase efficiency and transform the military to a more modern force.
Anthony J. Principi, chairman of the commission, said facts gathered during the panel's hearings and base visits, as well as public comments, gave rise to questions about the bases on the review list.
Also Friday, a Government Accountability Office report was released that said the Department of Defense's process for conducting its analysis "was generally logical, reasoned and well-documented."
But government auditors questioned whether costs of reshuffling military operations were underestimated and whether communities that would gain jobs have the schools and housing needed.
In addition to questioning the Pentagon's plans for Air National Guard bases and accounting offices, the commission wants to examine:
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