Saving the Los Angeles Air Force Base
By Dennis C. Lord, Public Affairs Manager for the Gas Company

     I attended the State Base Retention Council meeting in El Segundo recently and added my name to the list of those determined to prove the national importance of Los Angeles Air Force Base (LAAFB) to this nation’s security. Among the prominent leaders that morning stood our own Councilwoman, Janice Hahn. Determined, assertive and fiercely proud of the military history in the San Pedro community, she left no stone unturned in her message of support.
     Space is the ultimate “high ground” and its value to the men and women risking their lives has emerged to the point of being dependent upon these systems for personal protection and the protection of others. LAAFB is responsible for the development, acquisition and launch of these space-based systems in concert with many aerospace companies in the South Bay and Southern California. There are over 50,000 jobs in SoCal and 112,000 throughout the state that work on these systems. Many, if not most, are civilian.
     Like a public utility, you don’t just “pick up and leave.” But that is what is being considered with the looming BRAC (Base Relocation and Closure) process due to escalate in May 2005. LAAFB manages a $60 billion budget. Once those dollars begin to move away from this region, what is to prevent similar decisions from related companies that need to be near the primary contractor? It won’t happen overnight, but it will not happen again.
     Economic impact notwithstanding, the strategic value of not relocating certain programs was addressed in the Columbia Investigation panel reviewing the Space Shuttle disaster. It was not noted that certain programs had been transferred from SoCal to Houston and then on to the Cape. However, the intellectual capital; i.e., engineers, software programmers, managers, etc., did not follow. Why?
     The reasons are numerous, depending upon each employees situation. But who was to know that many of these employees simply moved to the entertainment industry that benefited greatly from their expertise? Others retired or looked for other work in a strong SoCal economy. But it was felt in the Columbia investigation that a program that was moved and lost its expertise might have solved the debris problem And prevented that incident. Program relocations have resulted in up to an 80 percent loss of institutional memory.
     Since reorganization after five launch failures in the late 90s, Space Command and LAAFB now have a string of 39 successful launches. Folks, that’s 39-0! Congresswoman Harman commented that 39-1 is not “acceptable”! To put this in further perspective with the extraordinary costs of a launch these days, consider the following. In the last round of BRAC closures, it was estimated to cost upwards of $700 million to relocate LAAFB. At today’s price, on launch failure can equal or exceed that.
     So where are we today? For one, while the State Council is now coming up to speed, there is to much work to do to convince our nation’s leaders that moving LAAFB would be a mistake. It is time for the community to stand up and be counted! As a member of the LAAFB Regional Alliance, I encourage you to visit our website, www.LAAFBalliance.com, and sign up to volunteer, contribute, write letters when appropriate and tell the story.
     Many don’t know the story. In fact, many know of the San Pedro Sportswalk but how many know about the San Pedro Spacewalk? It exists and you can contact me through the Chamber and I will show you where. If you wish, I will personally come to your group and tell the LAAFB story. It’s time for action; for our nation and for our community.