From coast to coast, towns and cities near military posts are nervously awaiting May 16. Thats the deadline for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to recommend which U.S. installations should be shut in the first round of base closures in a decade. Rumsfelds roster wont be the last word, but whichever posts are shuttered, hundreds of millions of dollars of construction are likely to follow, if past closure rounds are any guide. Work will include environmental cleanup at closed bases plus new facilities at still-open posts to which personnel from shuttered installations will be transferred.
"We along with many other companies have been tracking this for quite a while," says an industry source. "We think therell be a lot of realignment activities at what some people call gaining bases."