2005 Base Realignment and Closure Round and Galena
UPDATED JULY 17, 2006

Air Force personnel have not been in Galena full-time since 1993, but since then, the Air Force has paid for the continued maintenance and upkeep of the base facilities, keeping the door open for increased use of the forward operating location if needed. But on August 25, 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission voted unanimously to recommend the closure of the forward station, marking the beginning of the end for an installation that served a vital role in Alaska during World War II and the Cold War.   

Earlier in 2005, when the Department of Defense released its list of military facilities to either downsize or shut down, Galena was not on the list.  Under the DoD plan, Eielson Air Force Base would experience the biggest loss in Alaska in terms of personnel: 2800 military jobs and 319 civilian jobs reassigned.  Kulis Air National Guard Station in Anchorage would be totally shut down, costing about 450 jobs, and Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage would also see a net loss of staff under the DoD realignment plan: with 1100 military jobs going, and 165 civilian jobs added. 

Then the DoD list of recommendations went to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, an independent panel of nine people, appointed by the President and confirmed by the US Senate, which evaluates the list, and proposes further changes.  

The first public indication of what the BRAC Commission might change on the list came on July 1st, in the form of a letter signed by BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony Principi, and addressed to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.  As required by the federal laws governing the BRAC process, the letter asks the Defense Department to explain why certain sites were placed on the list for closure or realignment, or why certain sites were left off the list.  There were twelve sites around the country that the BRAC Commission mentions in its letter, and the Galena Airport Forward Operating Location was number 6. 

The BRAC Commission letter asks if DoD gave any thought to "merging the missions of Galena [forward operation location in Alaska] and Eielson Air Force Base in Alaska"….and asks further why there needs to be two forward operating locations, the other being at King Salmon, to accomplish the mission of the military in Alaska. 

[View a .pdf file of the letter sent to Secretary Rumsfeld by clicking on this link]>

Then, in a letter back to the BRAC Commission, DoD answered the Air Force did not consider Galena for realignment or closure "because of its operational role and because it had no day-to-day force structure assigned."

But the DoD's letter of reply also indicates that they asked certain Air Force officers to reevaluate Galena in light of the BRAC Commission's request, and this time determined that "closing the Galena FOL and moving its missions to Eielson, AFB, AK will not create unacceptable risk to North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD)/U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) mission accomplishment." In other words, the Air Force could scramble jet interceptors to Eielson (near Fairbanks) instead of Galena in a crisis or alert situation.

On Tuesday, July 19 in Washington DC, the Commission spent about 9 minutes hearing about and discussing Galena FOL's possible addition to the list, and then voted unanimously, 9 to 0, to formally proceed with looking at Galena for closure and reassigning its mission to Eielson AFB. Delivering the BRAC Commission staff's analysis, Craig Hall said that a closure of the Galena FOL will result in approximately 2 percent of area jobs lost, based on a regional population of 2000 people. He noted that the reopening of the airfield at Fort Greely, near Delta Junction, would give aircraft another emergency diversion possibility, and that the F/A 22 joint strike fighter, due to arrive for deployment in Alaska in 2008, would further lessen the need for the Galena FOL. Faster than the F-15, the jet fighter most seen and heard in Galena in recent years, the F/A 22 could potentially intercept a target from a longer range. A transcript of that hearing is at the BRAC website, www.brac.gov.

That vote necessitated a site visit by at least two commissioners, which occurred on July 29. (Read more about that here)

The decisive vote by the Commission came on August 25, 2005. Near the end of its second day of debate and voting on military installations proposed for closure or realignment, the Commission spent a little more than 10 minutes listening to the final staff analysis on the Galena FOL, asking questions, and voting. Commissioners Coyle and Bilbray, who both visited Galena in late July, both relayed the concerns of the community regarding the potential impact of the Air Force ceasing to fund the airport. But both men came out strongly in favor of the recommendation to close the Galena station and move its mission to Eielson. Bilbray said during the deliberation that the level of airport maintenance could diminish to the detriment of civilian and military traffic, but that the cost of maintaining Galena is "way out of line." Commissioner Coyle offered the motion to officially add the Galena FOL to the list of recommended closures, and Bilbray seconded.

The Commission then voted 9 to 0 to support the recommendation for closure.

Just as Chairman Anthony Principi attempted to move ahead on the agenda to the next item, Commissioner Lloyd Newton, a retired Air Force general, interrupted and requested that the BRAC recommendation on Galena include a request to the DoD to "work with the community so they can extend this as long as they possibly can, so [the Defense Department] can help this transition with the community."

Chairman Principi agreed with Newton's request, saying that he had spoke with Alaska Governor Frank Murkowski, and was assured that "the State of Alaska will work with the people of Galena as well to effect a smooth transition."  

The BRAC Commission submitted its recommendations to the President in early September. President Bush approved the list of recommendations in its entirety, and sent it on to Congress on September 16, 2005. 

Despite attempts by various members of the House of Representatives to reject the BRAC report, Congress took no action on it during the allotted 45 day window.  So the BRAC recommendations became law on November 9, 2005.

A local committee formed in October 2005 to steer the process of receiving and reusing Air Force facilities. Since the Air Force never owned the land it occupied (it belongs to the State of Alaska), the process has considerable legal and bureaucratic hurdles to overcome.    

By April 2006, the Air Force announced that the mission previously served by Galena had already been reassigned to Eielson Air Force Base in Fairbanks.

The timeframe for closing the Galena Forward Operating Location is still a matter of debate, but the Pacific Air Force Command in Hawaii announced in June 2006 that it intends to complete the shutdown no later than September 30, 2008 - the end of the 2008 fiscal year.  Galena city and tribal leaders argue that a redevelopment plan cannot be completed by then.  The reuse plan will likely center around the expansion of the Galena City School District's boarding school and vocational offerings, which are currently housed in facilities vacated by the Air Force after the first scale-down in Galena in the early 1990s.

Environmental remediation and monitoring by the Air Force and its contractors will go on at Galena for many years beyond the handover of the base as well.