Senators Olshove, Switalski, Jacobs and Brater offered the following concurrent resolution:

            Senate Concurrent Resolution No. 16.

A concurrent resolution to memorialize the United States Congress to validate the requirement for the Detroit Arsenal during the current round of the Base Realignment and Closure process.

Whereas, Congress has authorized the examination of our military bases in order to determine which facilities are necessary for national defense and which are excess.  Known as Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC), several rounds of this process have taken place since 1988. The 2005 BRAC round is being carried out while our forces fight in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Additional forces are deployed worldwide with allies to combat terrorism. Decisions made this year will affect our ability to project and sustain power in this fight for years to come; and

Whereas, The Detroit Arsenal, located in Warren, Michigan, is the home to a number of commands that have a direct impact on the safety of our soldiers and Marines now fighting.  We are all aware of the critical importance of armored vehicles for force protection while our troops carry out their missions.  The Tank Automotive and Armaments Command (TACOM) at the Detroit Arsenal, for example, supports armored door kits for Humvees as well as armor protection for other systems. The Tank-Automotive Research Development and Engineering Center (TARDEC) is the nation's laboratory for advanced ground systems automotive-military technology. TARDEC's engineering support efforts for combat tactical vehicles and countermine equipment, and other projects, are a direct benefit to troops in the field; and

Whereas, The role of the Detroit Arsenal is also critical for the development of the Army's Future Force, a networked system of systems designed to harness the Revolution in Military Affairs to create a deployable and lethal Army capable of defeating any enemy anywhere in the world. The Program Manager Unit of Action, another command in Warren, has a key role in integrating the various components of the Future Combat Systems that are being developed and integrating them into the Army's new Brigade Combat Teams (Units of Action). This role is another reason the Detroit Arsenal will be in the top tier of essential facilities for decades to come; and

Whereas, Program Executive Offices located in the Detroit Arsenal take advantage of their location in the heart of the world's automotive capital to leverage relationships with the automotive industry, academic institutions, and suppliers to develop new dual-use concepts that are mutually beneficial to the military and the partners in these projects. Fuel cells, unmanned vehicles, and advanced materials are examples of these partnership projects. Other critical programs support tactical vehicle systems, force protection, and combat systems support.  Their work delivers, sustains, and modernizes combat power for joint combat and combat support functions. For Michigan, a state that is challenged by an unemployment rate that is the highest in the nation, closing the Detroit Arsenal would further hurt a region that has critical industrial base assets that will be needed in the future; now, therefore, be it

Resolved by the Senate (the House of Representatives concurring), That we memorialize the United States Congress to validate the requirement for the Detroit Arsenal during the current round of the Base Realignment and Closure process; and be it further

Resolved, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, and the members of the Michigan congressional delegation.