Ventura Bases Avoid Closure List--So Far

The Point Mugu and Port Hueneme Navy bases have survived the first round of cuts in the lengthy base closure process as the Pentagon prepares its final list of recommended installations to shut down, military sources have told The Times.

In this early but important round, the sources said, the Navy has decided to keep both Ventura County bases off its recommended “hit list” of installations no longer needed in the post-Cold War era.

Traditionally, military bases not targeted at this stage rarely become part of the bloodletting in the periodic effort to close installations that siphon defense dollars needed for modernizing the armed services.

Although the Navy’s list remains secret, military sources said the Long Beach Naval Shipyard and the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station have popped up as potential targets for shutdown in California.

Sources said that military leaders are also scrutinizing the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, the West Coast boot camp for the Marines. If it were to close over Marine Corps objections, Paris Island, S.C., would be the Marines’ only boot camp.

Although the Ventura bases appear secure for now, the colorful local Navy unit that shuttles scientists to Antarctica faces a threat of losing its mission and its 558-person payroll to the New York Air National Guard.

New York’s congressional delegation had been working quietly to transfer Operation Deep Freeze to a guard unit at Schenectady Airport. But Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) caught on to the plan last week and lined up several California congressmen to help defend the Port Hueneme-based unit and its squadron of cargo planes and helicopters at Point Mugu.

Overall, local leaders cheered the promising news for the county’s Navy bases, but warned that their fate could turn at any point in the multi-step process that extends until September. County leaders urged continued diligence in defending the military installations and the 20,000 related jobs.

“Right now, things look pretty good. Next week, things could look horrible,” said County Supervisor John K. Flynn. “Without overreacting, we have to have an arsenal of information ready to defend the bases.”

Secretary of Defense William J. Perry, who is scrutinizing and compiling the lists from the Army, Navy and Air Force, has the authority to add Ventura County’s bases to the Pentagon hit list.

Even after Perry forwards the recommendations to the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, the commissioners could decide to mothball both bases or lop off portions of them.

Yet commissioners in the previous base closure rounds have closely followed the Pentagon’s recommendations.

And Perry, who recently scaled back his ambitious goal of an overall 15% reduction, is running out of time to overhaul the Navy’s suggested cuts--a scenario based on months of analysis of every naval facility. He plans to release his final recommendations on Feb. 28.

“It’s not over until it’s over, but we have not heard anything that would give us cause for concern,” Gallegly said.

The Navy not only left Ventura County’s bases largely undisturbed, it may have set them up to receive the spoils from other bases targeted for closure, sources said.

Point Mugu’s Naval Air Warfare Center, Weapons Division, was recently asked if it could take on a squadron of F/A-18 Hornet jet fighters. The Naval Air Warfare Center, the principal operation at Point Mugu, tests missiles and other weaponry used by Navy aircraft.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center at Port Hueneme also may be in line to pick up the operations--and jobs--of small Navy installations in Corona, Indianapolis and Indian Head, Md. As the second-largest organization on the Port Hueneme Seabee base, the Naval Surface Warfare Center trouble-shoots computer glitches in shipboard weapons.

Some state leaders fear that any potential expansion of California military bases could be snared by clean air laws that can block new ventures in areas that exceed health standards for air pollution.

Gov. Pete Wilson hopes to meet with Perry this week to assure him that California bases can handle extra military duties, said Judy Ann Miller, the governor’s director of military base retention.