|
|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
In The News ARMS
Author Reflects on Initiative With Pride: A Conversation With Rand Fishbein
News@arms Rand Fishbein is the author of the Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support (ARMS) Initiative which makes a range of incentives available to businesses willing to relocate at deactivated army ammunition production facilities. At the time of the program's enactment in May, 1992, Fishbein was a professional staff member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Sub Committee under its chairman, Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI). Today, he owns a public-policy consulting and lobbying firm, Fishbein Associates Inc., based in Rockville, Maryland. Recently, news@ARMS had the chance to speak with him about the program of which he is so proud.
Rand Fishbein: I developed the ARMS concept in May, 1992 after visiting a number of government-owned, contractor operated (GOCO) ammunition plants. I left each site impressed by our nation's unsurpassed industrial ability, but despondent at the thought that all of this idle capacity was rusting away. [Editor's note: At the same time, the administration was agonizing over how to handle defense downsizing.] On the plane home, I literally wrote. . .what became an outline for the ARMS program. By the end of September, the program had been enacted as part of the fiscal year 1993 National Defense Authorization Act. With uncharacteristic speed, Congress made $200 million available to launch this ambitious incentive out of what I believe to be a concern for the future of the ammunition production base and a realization that military downsizing programs were proving too costly and cumbersome to administer. The ARMS model presented a win-win opportunity for the Army and local communities across the nation. If the U.S. no longer needs the capabilities supplied by our ammunition plants, why not just close the facilities? Fishbein: This is, of course, what the Army has been doing. In the five decades since World War II, our nation's inventory of active government ammunition plants has dropped from well over one hundred to less than fifteen today. The problem is that much of our defense infrastructure is just too expensive to maintain and is configured for rates of production that are not cost effective. I believe the ARMS program provides an elegant solution to this problem. It permits the Government to retain title to the land it possesses, while providing a means through which the cost of ownership can be significantly reduced, in some cases, to zero. The key to ARMS is the recognition that our defense industrial facilities have value far beyond their individual military uses. Most can be converted to multi-purpose commercial parks, while still being maintained as ready defense assets. Imagination, effective management, a leadership willing to take risks, and the support of the community are the most important ingredients for success Let's say you operated an industrial business. Why would you locate it to an army ammunition plant? Fishbein: Few industrial organizations anywhere in the world are able to offer their customers the ability to select from more than 31,000,000 square feet of flexible industrial space, 141,000 acres of choice land, 10,000 buildings and more than 600 miles of rail line and a highly skilled work force. The U.S. Army and its large contractor support team, comprised of some of America's most respected manufacturing companies, are unequaled in industrial experience. For businesses looking for a new manufacturing, assembly or distribution site, it is as if small cities had been vacated and then suddenly had been thrown open for commercial use. With fully-operational warehouses, docks, communications systems, waste treatment, hazardous materials response units, laboratories, water, sewer and electricity capacity and more, our nation's ammunition plants are more than just ordnance factories; they are engines for economic growth and opportunity. Is the ARMS program having an impact on other areas of the government? Fishbein: Absolutely. ARMS has emerged as the most successful cooperative-use model in the nation. It now is being studied by other military services and the Department of Energy for possible application to their particular conversion needs. Like the Army, they have come to see ARMS as the practical, cost effective and community friendly solution to defense downsizing. With more than 3,000 skilled jobs created since the program was established and many thousands more projected for the future, ARMS stands as an unqualified success. As far as I am aware, ARMS has demonstrated that for the first time in the history of our nation, it is possible to fully cover the costs of maintaining U.S. defense installations through commercial reuse. today, Facility One in Charlestown Indiana, and Kansas AAP in Parsons, Kan., are being operated at zero cost to the American taxpayer. ARMS delivers on three of our most important national goals: reducing the cost of ownership of Federal facilities, enhancing military readiness and providing stable well-paying jobs in communities that for generations have served, quite literally, as the arsenals of our democracy. Has the program lived up to your expectations? Fishbein: The rapid success of the ARMS program has not only exceeded my expectations, but also surprised the skeptics. Much work is still left to be done to ensure the permanence of the ARMS program. What ARMS needs and deserves is the top-down attention of the White House and the Secretary of Defense. They need to see the ARMS program as a powerful tool for constructive, humane change. Their leadership is essential if this small, but significant experiment in cooperative use is to survive. As we cross into the 21st Century, the future model for our defense industrial sites can either be a modern, self-sufficient industrial park or Jurassic Park. The choice is ours. news@ARMS, A publication of the U.S. Army Operations Support Command (OSC), the ARMS Program and OpEnterprise |
