Military base closings rank up there with Social Security and Medicare in bringing out the worst in members of Congress. Lawmakers who have made a career of railing against government spending and waste will throw themselves in the way of any legislation to shut down a military base in their district or state, even when the Pentagon says the facility is no longer needed.

In light of this political reality, the Defense Department has had to figure out a way to give lawmakers political cover. In past years, the job of targeting bases for elimination was handed over to a bipartisan commission whose recommendations had to be be accepted or rejected -- but not amended -- by the president and the Congress. The Pentagon successfully closed 97 bases from 1988 to 1995, saving the government $15.5-billion. But the system broke down in 1996 when Republicans accused President Clinton of purposely dragging his feet on the closing of two bases in California and Texas before his re-election.

Since then, the process has stalled. Now the Pentagon says another round of base closings is necessary. It wants a significant number of the remaining 398 domestic bases closed by 2009. According to the Pentagon, the new closings would save an additional $3.5-billion annually by the end of the decade, money the Defense Department says it desperately needs for other purposes.

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle already are shifting nervously, suggesting that no more base closings are needed and that the savings claimed by the Pentagon are overblown. These grumbles will swell to a roar when the list of targeted bases is released. It should be remembered that military bases are intended to be part of our national defense. The economic benefits they bring to a community are secondary. Base-closing decisions should be based on sophisticated judgments having to do with the priorities of our military. They should be made by experts in the Defense Department and by not politicians who view the issue as political pork.

Last week, the Pentagon sent legislation to Congress to revive a process similar to the one used in prior rounds of base closings. It would create an independent commission, appointed by the White House and Congress, to review a list of closure recommendations from the secretary of defense. After the commission makes its recommendations, Congress and the president would have to approve or reject the list in its entirety. The commission process has worked in the past, and it can do so again if Congress doesn't muck it up with politics.

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