No base closures until 2013

DAYTON, Ohio (DAYTON BUSINESS JOURNAL) - Dayton Business Journal: Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially gave up hope Monday on a 2013 round of defense base shutdowns, but said closures will have to happen sometime later to keep a "balanced force," Federal News Radio reported.

In its 2013 budget proposal, the Department of Defense told Congress it wanted authority to conduct two more rounds of base realignment and closures -- commonly known as BRAC. Officials argued as part of the new defense strategy they developed in response to $487 billion dollars in 10-year budget cuts that they needed to shrink the footprint of U.S. bases to match a shrinking military force.

The Dayton region is especially vulnerable to defense cuts, as it’s home to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The Top 25 largest defense contractors account for 3,000 Dayton-area employees and more than $755 million in combined local Defense Department contract awards in the most recent year, according to Dayton Business Journal research.

Read more at: http://www.bizjournals.com/dayton/blog/morning_call/2012/08/pentagon-no-base-closures-in-2013.html