ESHOO ANNOUNCES 129TH TO REMAIN AT MOFFETT FIELD; REGION TO GAIN NEW U.S. ARMY RESERVE REGIONAL READINESS COMMAND CENTER

Following today's release of the 2005 Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Report, Rep. Anna Eshoo commended the Pentagon for its recommendation to retain the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Federal Airfield, and to activate a new U.S. Army Reserve Southwest Regional Readiness Command headquarters at Moffett.

"I'm very pleased the Department of Defense has fully recognized the strategic and regional importance of having the 129th Rescue Wing at Moffett Field. By recommending the 129th remain headquartered at Moffett, and creating a new consolidated Army Reserve headquarters on the Airfield, the Pentagon has strengthened our regional and national homeland security and defense capability," said Eshoo.

Moffett Federal Airfield in Santa Clara County is home to NASA Ames Research Center, a leading international science center, which has long been the home of one of the nation's premier units, the California Air National Guard's 129th Rescue Wing. The members of the 129th conduct combat and search and rescue operations on a worldwide basis.

Over the years Congresswoman Eshoo has been a strong advocate for an expanded and enhanced role for Moffett Field in regional threat assessment and disaster preparedness. In 2003 she led the Bay Area Congressional Delegation in writing to the Secretary of the Air Force urging him to establish a state-of-the-art facility at Moffett Federal Airfield to command, coordinate, and control local threats as they unfold, as occurred during the Loma Prieta Earthquake of October 1989.

"Having the new Army Reserve Southwest Regional Readiness Command headquarters at Moffett will complement the critical mission of the 129th Rescue Wing based there and dramatically improve our region's ability to prepare for and mitigate threats to our safety and security. I'm looking forward to personally welcoming the men and women of the Army Reserve to their new home at Moffett Field."

Also included in the BRAC list was a recommendation to close Onizuka Air Station and relocate its highly-classified space operations mission to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California's central coast. A separate entity from Moffett Federal Airfield, Onizuka had originally been slated for closure within the 1995 BRAC process and had been phasing out its mission over the last several years.

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