The ill-conceived and frankly disastrous BRAC recommendations won?t start affecting Northern Virginia for another few years, hopefully enough time for DOD to reconsider its security standards. These standards require that a building used by DOD be at least 80 feet and sometimes up to 148 feet from a major road. Turns out NO building in the whole of Arlington and Alexandria, and very few in Fairfax can meet that standard and starting next year: (from the Arlington Connection)
In Arlington, the Defense Department currently leases 9.3 million square feet of office space, but will vacate 4.2 million square feet over the next decade as part of the federal Base Realignment and Closure process. The remaining defense agencies may be forced to abandon Arlington once their current leases expire, if they cannot find buildings that adhere to the new [security] rules.
An extreme example of this bureaucratic mess follows:
Recently, more than $12 million was spent on additional security to strengthen the building containing the Office of Naval Research in Ballston. But the ONR may still have to vacate the building when its lease expires because it does not conform to the new standards.
This is an absolutely ridiculous situation and thankfully somebody is fighting for Northern Virginia:
In an effort to retain defense employees and contractors in leased space in Arlington, U.S. Rep. Jim Moran(D-8) included provisions in legislation last month to require more Congressional oversight of the Department of Defense?s new controversial building standards.Moran?s report language was included in the fiscal year 2006 Defense Appropriations Bill, and obligates the Secretary of Defense to identify the costs of the new requirements, compare them with security standards for other federal agencies and further explore new technology that could fortify existing buildings.
This situation has the potential to devastate the economies of Arlington, Alexandria, and Fairfax, so I wish Mr. Moran all the luck in the world.
P.S. Kudos to Governor Warner for looking out for NoVA.
Cross posted on NoVA Democrat