BRAC 2005 is law (DR, 11/10/05), so the Pentagon must now carry out its terms. Pentagon actions for the more than 800 installations affected—in large and small ways—must begin by Sept. 15, 2007 and end by Sept. 15, 2001. The first step is for each of the military services to develop “detailed business plans,” say DOD officials. The plans are due by Nov. 15.
A new Air Force plan for how many fighters it needs in the next decade marks a sharp upturn from what it thought it needed just seven years ago. But analysts worry that the aspirational plan now in Congress' hands doesn’t make a tight enough connection to national strategy.
