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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Carragher who wrote (131875)	8/12/2005 7:25:04 AM
From: John Carragher	Respond to of 793903

the closest air base will be 100 miles away if Otis closed. this is so funny it is sad. Kennedy politics at work. Members of panel see dangers in closing Otis Gaps feared in US safety By Bryan Bender, Globe Staff \| August 12, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Just weeks before a final report is due, members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission said yesterday that they believe closing Otis Air Guard Base on Cape Cod could jeopardize homeland security in the event of another suicide aircraft hijacking in the Northeast similar to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. In their last public hearing, commission members grilled Pentagon officials and top military officers for hours yesterday on how they would protect the airspace over the most populated areas of the country without combat aircraft on round-the-clock standby. What they heard, however, didn't erase their concerns. ''We're not yet assured," said a commissioner for the panel, Samuel K. Skinner. He said he doubted that the military could quickly intercept hijacked airliners and shoot them down, especially on a moment's notice, as in the 9/11 attacks. ''There is a big, big gap," added another commissioner, James Bilbray, referring to the vast distances that some aircraft would have to fly to take down a hijacked airliner. ''The interception time has been so extended because those bases are so far." Without the 102d Fighter Wing at Otis, the closest Air Guard fighters on alert near major cities such as New York and Boston would be two Air National Guard combat jets at Bradley International Airport in Hartford, 100 miles to the west of Cape Cod. The commission chairman, Anthony Principi, calling Otis the ''doorstep to the Atlantic," suggested that might not be close enough to protect an area with some of the most congested airspace in the country, which has lost several other air bases in recent decades. boston.com