State officials seek to limit cuts to bases

ALBANY -- With broad defense cuts looming, some New York officials working to protect the state's military installations are focusing on Air National Guard and Reserve bases.

President Barack Obama this month proposed a leaner defense budget for 2013 amid troop drawdowns in Iraq and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is soon expected to request two new rounds of domestic base closures and realignments as a way to cut long-term costs.

The expected cuts could have major effects in New York, which is home to dozens of military installations, including Fort Drum in northern New York, the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station and the Army National Guard's Camp Smith near Peekskill in the Hudson Valley.

Combined, the active duty, National Guard and Reserve installations employ tens of thousands of troops and civilians from Long Island to western New York, and they are critical to the economies in many upstate areas.

Though it does not appear likely New York will be hit as severely as it was in the mid-'90s base closure round -- which shut down active duty Air Force bases in Plattsburgh and Rome -- there are still worries.

"There's no doubt there will be cuts. We are trying to limit the cuts and trying to grow the missions and present New York as the future for the military," said Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Gillibrand, Sen. Charles Schumer and other members of New York's congressional delegation have been trying to secure and extend missions at New York's military installations as a way to protect them from being shuttered or shrunk in the coming years.

Gillibrand said she is particularly concerned about the five bases maintained by the Air National Guard and Air Reserves in New York, as well as the Air Force research lab in Rome. The Air Force announced planned nationwide force reductions this month that would lean heavily on the Guard and would trim Reserve forces as well.

One focus for politicians is on Niagara Falls, where the 914th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve and the 107th Airlift Wing of the New York Air National Guard share a tactical airlift mission. There are plans to reduce the number of C-130 transport planes, which has raised fears that fewer planes could leave the 107th without a mission, said Niagara Military Affairs Council chairman Merrell Lane.

Lane, whose group advocates for the base, said it is the largest employer in Niagara County and the loss of the Guard mission could cost about 800 civilian jobs.