Washington D.C. – Congressman Tim Murphy said today’s face-to-face meeting with Air Force officials revealed the Pentagon did not perform a cost-benefit analysis before it decided to pursue closure of the 911th Airlift Wing.

Murphy, who introduced legislation (H.R. 3911) to stop the Air Force from closing the base without congressional approval or a clear cost-benefit analysis, released the following statement after the meeting:

“Today’s meeting was enlightening and disappointing. The Air Force admitted there is no analysis showing that closure of the 911th is the best decision on behalf of the taxpayers. I understand restructuring is difficult, but it must be done impartially, with Congress’ approval, and only after all relevant information has been analyzed. Let’s look at the numbers. But right now, they don’t exist as far as we can tell.”

“The Air Force saw that the C-130s in Pittsburgh are the oldest in the fleet and decided to send them to boneyard. But the Air Force is ignoring that Pittsburgh used to have newer C-130 models before the last BRAC round, and the Air Force isn’t considering the low operational costs at Pittsburgh, or other investments being made by the military in Pittsburgh.”

“In our meeting, the Air Force admitted costlier bases would be kept open in other states to satisfy so-called ‘intangible’ reasons like ‘geographic balance.’ The Air Force told us they had to make billions in cuts in the next five years, but they did not gather, review, nor analyze objective data. They made their decisions on no base-by-base cost or mission efficiency analysis. That is not acceptable to me and is certainly not acceptable to taxpayers.”

The 911th is one of the most valuable bases in the nation’s arsenal – both in terms of mission support and when it comes to saving the taxpayers money. More than $50 million has been invested in the last six years at the 911th and surrounding installations. And, the Airlift Wing offers unique joint-training opportunities with the Navy NOSC, Air National Guard, and US Army Reserve that fulfill the Pentagon’s strategy to integrate the forces.”

“There’s a long way to go before this fight is over, and I’ll continue to pressure the Air Force to prove any decision is in the interest of national defense and the taxpayers.”

Air Force officials agreed to future meetings with the delegation, and will provide data about the number of civilian personnel at the 911th next week. Last Monday, February 6, Rep. Murphy released a formal letter sent to the Air Force seeking clarification on the number of civilian personnel at the 911th. If there are more than 300 civilian persons at the base, the Air Force must submit its request to close the 911th to Congress along with details evaluation reports on the local economic and strategic impact.

Murphy brokered today’s Pennsylvania delegation meeting with General Philip Breedlove, Vice Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force, and has been leading efforts to preserve the base and get answers from the Pentagon on the factors used in the decision to close the 911th.

Also in attendance were: Maj. Gen. William H. Etter is the Deputy Director, Air National Guard; Brigadier General James Jackson, Air Force Reserve; Sens. Bob Casey Jr. and Pat Toomey; and Reps. Jason Altmire, Mike Doyle, Bill Shuster, Glenn Thompson, and Mark Critz.