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RESPONSE OVERVIEW

Following recommendations by DoD, Arlington formulated a response which emphasized the potential compromises to mission effectiveness, and underestimation of costs by DoD to move agencies.

  • Moving DoD agencies out of Arlington will be detrimental to the effectiveness of their missions.
    • According to DoD agency officials, moving DoD agencies out of Arlington – even to other locations in the region – will cause massive losses of private personnel; can the U.S. afford this disruption at such a critical time?
    • In addition, the disruption will hamper their ability to attract and hire new personnel with the necessary backgrounds, education, experience levels and high-level security clearances.
    • DoD agencies enjoy a synergy with each other and with the National Science Foundation; moving these agencies will destroy that synergy and their ability to work quickly and effectively with each other in a proximate, urban location.

  • The total costs of moving DoD agencies have been underestimated.
    • The costs of keeping DoD agencies in their current locations in Arlington, or moving them to alternate locations in Arlington – even in other leased space – are less than costs that will be incurred to move these agencies to military bases.
    • The DoD has not considered the transportation infrastructure, congestion, pollution or other real costs borne by others and associated with their recommendations

Arlington and Virginia testified at the BRAC's Capital Area regional hearing on July 7, 2005. A five-minute highlights video from the hearing is available (12.5 MB; Windows Media).

Transcripts of the complete testimony submitted to the Commission follows (in order of presentation):

A copy of Arlington's complete proposal is available for download (Adobe Acrobat; 3.4 MB; 65 pages). An HTML version without graphics is also available.

An overview of how Arlington is impacted by the BRAC Commission's recommendations and how Arlington is responding, can be found in AED's BRAC Briefing Update for Brokers, Developers and Real Estate Community (Powerpoint; 2.6 MB).

Results

Following testimony, the BRAC Committee unanimously voted to remove the Extramural Research Activities from the BRAC list; thereby keeping those agencies in Arlington. The Extramural Research Agencies include the Office of Naval Research (ONR), the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), the Army Research Office (ARO) and the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

Next Steps

The final report of the Northern Virginia Base Realignment and Closure Working Group, appointed by Governor Mark Warner to address the recommendations issued in August by the federal 2005 BRAC Commission, was issued on December 1, 2005. The report offers critical planning and policy recommendations organized around two top priorities:

  • transportation improvements for those parts of Northern Virginia where sudden new job relocation will occur; and
  • economic development assistance for those parts of Northern Virginia impacted by the sudden loss of jobs.

Group Chairman Robert G. Templin, Jr., President of Northern Virginia Community College, has identified two recommendations that are immediate and urgent. One relates to the $258 million in transportation improvements that must be addressed at once to deal BRAC-related impacts. The other relates to the Commonwealth formalizing its commitment of $10 million to assist the region in retaining federal research agencies, specifically the headquarters of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington County.