Nelson’s strategic standing improves

WASHINGTON — After losing several battles this year, those fighting to keep and expand the military missions at Offutt Air Force Base can count on a boost in congressional firepower.

They also have greater reason to hope that U.S. Strategic Command, located at Offutt, will eventually be able to move into a new $458 million headquarters.

Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., is taking over as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee responsible for the nation’s nuclear and strategic forces, including StratCom, as well as its space and cyber warfare programs.

As head of the subcommittee, Nelson will be kept briefed on the military’s plans for its strategic forces and will be responsible for reviewing some of the related budgets.

In his new role, Nelson said he will be looking for new and modified missions, such as those involving cyberspace, that can be located at Offutt.

“We’ll be asking the question, ‘Shouldn’t they be co-located with Strategic Command?’ ” Nelson said Friday.

John Pike, director of GlobalSecurity.org and a leading defense analyst, said the new chairmanship will give Nelson a powerful perch from which to preserve and build on StratCom’s current role.

“It’s not any kind of guarantee … (but) he’s going to be better positioned to do it from that committee,” Pike said.

Nelson also said the new chairmanship will help him achieve what has been his top priority as a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee: construction at Offutt of a new, state-of-the-art facility to house StratCom.

Nelson secured $10 million in the last federal budget cycle for planning and design of the new headquarters and is looking to score another $13 million in the next cycle to keep the initial work going.

Nelson said that replacing StratCom’s outdated headquarters is in the best interest of national defense and that his efforts to land new missions for Offutt represent his philosophy that centralization is a good way to foster cooperation between military units.

He’s particularly sensitive to any perception that he is simply trying to bring home the bacon.

“National defense comes first,” Nelson said. “If I’m perceived as being in this position just for a grab, then I won’t be effective.”

Still, Nelson said it’s true that the expensive new headquarters would help secure StratCom’s location at Offutt and thereby protect the future of the base.

“That doesn’t necessarily make it BRAC-proof, but it certainly goes a long ways,” Nelson said, referring to the Base Realignment and Closure process that governs elimination or reorganization of military bases.

Offutt had a difficult run this year in attracting new missions. Despite lobbying campaigns by local officials and members of the state’s congressional delegation, Offutt was passed over by the Air Force twice, first for a new cyber unit and then for its new Global Strike Command, which will oversee Air Force nuclear weapons.

Additionally, a new unified cyber command that local leaders had hoped would come to Offutt is instead being established in Maryland.

Nelson and other members of the delegation were particularly upset about the Global Strike decision, which came despite Offutt receiving the highest score among bases evaluated for the new command.

Nelson said he doubts that the outcome of the Global Strike selection process would have been different if he had been in charge of the strategic forces subcommittee at the time, because the process was “cooked.”

He had blamed internal Air Force politics when the Air Force announced in May that its preferred site for the cyber unit was Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, rather than Offutt.

Nelson said Friday that he does not plan to hold subcommittee hearings on the Global Strike process, but that he will be watching to make sure future decisions are handled properly.

Nelson gave up his chairmanship of the Senate Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on personnel in order to take over the one on strategic forces. That spot was open as a result of the leadership shuffle that followed the death of Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., in August. Kennedy had been chairman of a different subcommittee.

Nelson said the importance of the strategic forces covered by the subcommittee made the switch attractive, apart from StratCom’s location in Nebraska.

Defense analyst Pike noted that it’s a critical time for the subcommittee, which will deal with issues such as missile defense and a coming review of the nation’s nuclear weapons and policies.

It also will have to grapple with issues that arise from the administration’s negotiations with the Russians over nuclear arms reductions.

Nelson said he expects Congress and the subcommittee to play a role in those talks and said one concern is the result of reductions that went too far and affected national security.

Pike noted that preserving nuclear forces is another way to benefit Offutt.

“What is good for Offutt is a nuclear force that is operationally ready, that is ready to incinerate the Northern Hemisphere on 15 minutes notice, not some custodial unit that has got a bunch of inactive warheads back in the warehouse,” Pike said.

Contact the writer:

202-662-7270, joe.morton@owh.com

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