Virtual Lobbying

Local community leaders in San Angelo, Tex., who comprise the Goodfellow Air Force Base Coordinating Group that saved the base from BRAC 2005 cuts are expected to reconvene today to plot their strategy for attracting the Air Force’s cyber training mission to the base. The San Angelo Standard-Times reported yesterday that members of the group believe that the cyber training mission would sync well with Goodfellow’s existing role as an intelligence-training hub. Further, they say the base has the facilities to accommodate the new mission, including a sensitive, compartmented information facility, according to the newspaper. Goodfellow is up against Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Tex., and Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Miss., for the cyber training mission, which would station about 60 instructors at the winning base and bring as many as 800 students per year. The Air Force has not said when it will make its decision. We’ve already reported that members of the Texas Congressional delegation, including Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R) and Sen. John Cornyn (R) have come out in support of Sheppard, which is losing its medical training mission courtesy of BRAC 2005. But, according to the Standard-Times, both senators are simply vying to see the mission come to Texas and support both bases’ bids.