“I'm serious about using every opportunity to protect both MANG and Malmstrom,” Rehberg said of the bill that would, among other things postpone the BRAC process until completion of the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR). “They got the cart before the horse with BRAC; the Pentagon still has to present its Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), which is a process that will run from this summer into next year.”

       Rehberg discussed Malmstrom and the Quadrennial Defense Review in a meeting today with the head of the Air Force' strategic missile command, Major General Frank Klotz. Rehberg urged Klotz to help Montana identify a new mission for Malmstrom Air Force Base.

       “It's possible that with the Quadrennial Defense Review, the Pentagon will explore a non-nuclear role for some of Malmstrom's missiles – a process in which some of the ICBMs would have their nuclear components replaced with conventional warheads,” Rehberg, a member of the Military Quality of Life Appropriations Subcommittee, explained. “It would enable the Air Force to involve Malmstrom if the need arose to strike targets half way around the world in one hour or less without using nuclear force. The Navy has already set that precedent converting four of its eleven Trident submarines.  If the Pentagon moves in that direction, it could mean a larger role for Malmstrom, so we're closely watching the Quadrennial Defense Review.”

       Under the measure sponsored by Rehberg, the BRAC process would be halted until completion and implementation of the Secretary of Defense's Homeland Defense and Civil Support Directive, the return from deployment of substantially all major combat units and assets of the Armed Forces in Iraq, the development and implementation by the Secretaries of Defense and Homeland Security of the National Maritime Security Strategy, and complete analysis and consideration of the recommendations of the Commission on Review of Overseas Military Structure.