In meetings

with the Army in February, Members of Congress were assured that the Army

would conduct a two-phase selection process which included open dialogue

and community input. One of the locations under consideration for the

home of the command was Fort Benning, Columbus, Ga. After a site visit

to Benning in October of 2001, the Army decided the base was unsuitable

for a command of USARSO's size. Last March, the Secretary of the Army

decided to change the composition of USARSO, significantly reducing its

size and purpose. Following that decision, no follow-up visits were made

to Benning to see if it would fit with the modified Southern Command.

In meetings

with the Army on Tuesday of last week, Brigadier General Karl Eikenberry

told Rep. Mac Collins that given the change of initial criteria and reduction

of size of the command, Fort Benning would be revisited to see if suitable

headquarters could be found. That visit is planned for this week. Meanwhile,

USARSO announced to the House Appropriations Committee that a final decision

had been made to move the command to Fort Sam Houston.

To prevent

a move of the Army without the promised open process, which includes fair

and appropriate consideration of Fort Benning, Rep. Collins offered an

identical amendment to both the FY 2003 Military Appropriations Bill (H.R.

5010) and the FY 2003 Military Construction Appropriations Bill (H.R.

5011) which will block any funding from those bills from being used to

move USARSO to a location within the continental United States. The amendments

were offered with strong support from the chairmen of both of the Military

Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, David Hobson (OH) and Defense

Appropriations Subcommittee, Jerry Lewis (CA). In both cases, the amendments

were passed by a voice vote.

"I have

always put our national security and our soldiers' training above politics.

I have never been a firm believer in telling the Army, or any military

service for that matter, what is the best means for them to obtain their

objectives," Collins said. "However, I am tasked by my constituents

to make sure that we are spending their hard-earned tax dollars wisely.

"Without

my knowledge, the process went from an 'open' process to a 'closed' process

last week. This 'closed' process then led to an uneven playing field for

those communities around the country to compete for U.S. Army South including

Columbus, Georgia, home to Fort Benning," said Collins.

"Much

to my surprise, we received a memorandum stating that U.S. Army South

would be relocated to Fort Sam Houston, and that any other action would

compromise the readiness of U.S. Army South," said Chairman Hobson.

"This memorandum forces me to assume that the process is less than

fair and transparent."

"As I

said earlier this week, when any agency of the U.S. government tells Congress

they are going to do something, we expect them to do it," said Collins.