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Date: July 28, 2004
Top defense base official visits Picatinny
PICATINNY, N.J.-
One of the Defense Department’s top officials paid a short visit to Picatinny on Jul. 26.
Raymond F. DuBois, deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, spent several hours on the installation for briefings and a quick tour.
He was accompanied by U. S. Rep. Rodney P. Frelinghuysen (R-NJ) and escorted by Maj. Gen. N. Ross Thompson III, commanding general, U.S. Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
DuBois is a senior advisor to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. He oversees one of the largest real estate holdings in the country consisting off the nation’s 5,543 military bases in the U.S. and its territories.
He also is responsible for U.S. military assets overseas.
Prior to his arrival at the installation, he spoke to an audience of about 300 at a breakfast held at the Madison Hotel in Morristown that was held by the Morris County Chamber of Commerce.
He met with a small group of base military and civilian officials that included Brig. Gen. Paul S. Izzo, Picatinny commanding general, and Michael P. Devine, ARDEC director.
DuBois’ visit began with a panoramic view of Picatinny atop the Reisman Precision Armament Laboratory where he gazed over the installation and was briefed about Picatinny, PEO Ammunition and ARDEC.
He then toured selected parts of the base and visited the Davidson Warhead Facility and was briefed on Picatinny support to date to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Izzo called the visit “an important opportunity for us to tell Secretary DuBois what we do and show him how well we do it.”
“I’m sure he was impressed by what he heard and saw.”
Devine said the visit was an extremely beneficial one.
“I’m confident that Picatinny put its best foot forward and greatly impressed Secretary DuBois with every aspect of our installation, mission and the commitment of our people,” he said.
DuBois said that Picatinny is one of more than 150 military installations that he has visited in the three years he has been on the job.
During his remarks at the Chamber of Commerce breakfast, he said that two-thirds of the military’s 400,000 family housing units were in need of repair.
“Today, “ he said proudly, “that figure has decreased to less than one-third.
Addressing to the situation in Iraq, DuBois said that the Iraqi people “don’t want terrorism dictating their lives. Freedom is the key first step to combat terrorism.”
“The Iraqi government is on a path toward freedom, not necessarily a government like ours, not necessarily a Jeffersonian democracy, but a representative government nevertheless,” he said.
He also said that U.S. uniformed personnel “are changing hearts and minds. They are making us proud and, they should be making you proud, too.”
DuBois, who oversees base realignment and reuse, spoke briefly about the ongoing base realignment and closure study that DoD has begun.
“It’s too early to say which bases and how many bases will be affected,”he said. “All installations are being examined as part of this process.”
He went on to say that “we are succeeding in a very critical mission at this part in our history. Many of the things Picatinny Arsenal does every day support that mission.”
DeBois said that unlike previous BRACS, a panel of top Pentagon scientists will evaluate DoD’s research and development facilities as part of the process.
“But technology today affords us the opportunity to do things differently than we did 10 or 15 years ago. Where we might have concluded that base X or laboratory Y ought to be realigned 15 years ago, that’s not the conclusion we might reach at this point.”
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