Protecting Oklahoma's 5 military bases

The task force developing a strategy for protecting Oklahoma's military bases from the next round of base closures stressed Monday this is a very serious situation. <br><br>Oklahoma has five bases,

Monday, January 6th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

The task force developing a strategy for protecting Oklahoma's military bases from the next round of base closures stressed Monday this is a very serious situation.

Oklahoma has five bases, and task force officials say just a few days ago the Defense Department made clear that, even if we go to war, those and all bases will be considered for closure or realignment in 2005.

Task force chairman and state representative David Braddock says the state's first priority needs to be conducting a third party assessment of the bases. "We have to determine what our strengths and weaknesses are, we have to do that immediately, probably within the next ninety days. Because if we don't have time--any buildup time, it won't do us any good to find our where our weaknesses are, where our strengths are."

Braddock says the government is looking to shut down as many as a hundred bases across the country.