Columbia, S.C. – May 13, 2005 – Gov. Mark Sanford today issued the following statement on the Department of Defense recommendations released this morning related to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process:  

“Our state got some good news on the whole today,” Gov. Sanford said. “Anytime you’re talking about adding jobs and adding missions on the whole as opposed to losing them, it’s a tremendous statement about the role your military bases are playing in the national picture as well as the effort our local communities put forth in protecting them. Again, a lot of South Carolina communities deserve a tremendous amount of credit today. We said from the beginning of this process that South Carolina bases were central to our nation’s current and future defense missions, and I’m very pleased that the initial BRAC list from the Department of Defense recognizes that critical role. We’re going to stay on alert and keep making the case for all of our military assets because this obviously isn’t the end of the road, but considering what we could be facing as a state, a lot of communities should be breathing a good bit easier right now. We’re going to keep working with our local municipalities, our team here in Columbia and our leaders in Washington through the remainder of the BRAC process to protect every military asset we’ve got, whether it is currently on the list or not.”