August 9, 2005: NORTON TO OFFER NEW INFORMATION ON HOMELAND SECURITY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 9, 2005
NORTON TO OFFER NEW INFORMATION ON HOMELAND SECURITY
RISKS OF WALTER REED CLOSURE AT WEDNESDAY HEARING
Washington, DC—The Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today announced that she will again testify before the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) at a hearing TOMORROW, Wednesday, August 10, 2005 from 2:45 – 3:15 PM in Room 216 of the Hart Senate Office Building (2nd and C Streets, NE). Norton, a member of the Homeland Security Committee, will present new information concerning irreparable damage to the homeland security of the nation’s capital if a terrorist disaster occurs if the Walter Reed Army Medical Center is moved 50 percent further from downtown D.C. to Bethesda, Maryland than it would take to get to Walter Reed. Norton also will testify on a plan to consolidate four military installations now located in the District and northern Virginia into a Joint Medical Command Headquarters, moving operations from Bolling Air Force Base and the Potomac Annex in D.C., and from two leased facilities in the Virginia suburbs, to the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda.
The Congresswoman offered some information concerning the homeland security risks to the nation’s capital raised by the proposed closure of Walter Reed when she testified at the first BRAC hearing on the District last month. Since then, further investigation has revealed serious additional negative impact not only for residents, but especially for federal employees and officials and visitors. The Congresswoman believes that the risks are so serious that she has invited Dr. Gregg Pane, Director of the D.C. Department of Health, and Mr. Robert Malson, CEO of the D.C. Hospital Association, to accompany her to offer expert testimony in the event of questions from the BRAC Commission. Norton also will testify that the District does not object to some consolidation, but believes the 1,500 to 2,000 employees affected can be best co-located at Bolling, which has the space and security to accommodate the influx of personnel, and would remove the need for approximately 166,000 square feet of leased space in the National Capital Region.
The hearing covering Indiana, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina, Virginia and the District will begin at 8:30 AM. D.C. testimony is not scheduled to begin until 2:45 PM. Media credentials for the hearing may be requested via web site https://www.brac.gov/MediaSignup.aspx or by contacting BRAC Deputy Communications Director Robert McCreary via email at robert.mccreary@wso.whs.mil or by telephone at 703-901-7835.