A. As soon as possible after receipt of a request for economic adjustment assistance, a reconnaissance visit to the

community affected will be made by representatives of the OEA, accompanied, when appropriate, by representatives of the interested DoD Component and/or by selected representatives of other EAC agencies.

B. The purpose of the visit will be to establish contact with community leaders, examine the nature and degree of the Defense impact, and assess the need, if any, for economic adjustment assistance.

C. Assistance and support of interested members of the Congressional delegation will be sought in connection with this first visit.

D. In the case of communities affected by closure of a Defense installation or major reductions in force, the visit will include a review of plans and procedures initiated under the DoD Program for Stability of Civilian Employment (reference (b)) for the benefit of affected employees. In these instances the visiting team will include representation from ASD (M&RA) and the DoD Zone or Regional Placement Coordinators, as appropriate.

E. Prior to the initial reconnaissance visit, the Office of Economic Adjustment will assemble available information on the economy and on the nature and degree of the Defense economic impact. This information will be expanded in the course of the visit through meetings with the community leadership and tours of the area and by inspection of military installations and briefings by installation commanders in situations where Defense base realignments or closures are the source of the economic impact.

F. Within 30 working days of the conclusion of the reconnaissance visit, the Office of Economic Adjustment will prepare a

report of community visit. This report will be submitted to

II.

Congressional delegation. The report will include a determination by the Director, Office of Economic Adjustment, of the need for economic adjustment in the community and the nature and extent of the assistance required.

FOLLOW-UP ACTION

A.

B.

C.

Following determination of the need for community assistance and agreement with the Congressional delegation, the Director, OEA, will initiate follow-up action with community leaders. Depending upon the community requirements, this action may consist of one or more visits to the community by: a team representing the full EAC membership; a select EAC team; or OEA staff members. Alternatively, the program in some communities may only require follow-up counselling assistance from OEA and/or EAC member agencies.

Within 60 working days after an initial team visit, the
OEA will prepare a report of community visit which will
include a recommended development strategy, specific
development actions for implementing the strategy, and
the assignment of responsibility for executing the develop-
ment actions.

The Director, OEA, may assign regional coordinators to major geographic regions to coordinate EAC assistance to communities within the region.

III. LIAISON WITH FEDERAL REGIONAL COUNCILS

In organizing and carrying out community economic adjustment programs, the OEA will maintain liaison with the appropriate Federal Regional Councils in order to assure their participation, assistance in mobilizing regional Federal resources in support of community efforts, and assumption of responsibility for follow-on community activities once the emergency economic adjustment programs are well under way.

ADJUSTMENT ACTION PLAN

STAGES OF ECONOMIC ADJUSTMENT PROCESS

The Economic Adjustment Process, as practiced by the President's Economic Adjustment Committee, involves taking many steps that follow each other in a logical fashion. These are graphically depicted on Attachment A. A description of the key steps follows:

STAGE I

PRE-PLANNING

Step 1 - Preliminary Impact Analyses (March 1973)

The first action following the identification of the facilities to be closed was a cursory analyses of the impact of the various realignments. This evaluation included: 1/

Economic Impact. The result of each defense realignment was defined in terms of military personnel relocated, onbase jobs lost, loss of monetary support to the community from wages and salaries and local procurement, the amount of housing to be vacated and the loss of service industry related jobs. The area economy was then assessed to predict its ability to absorb the resultant losses.

Assistance Requirements. The findings of the above evaluations pointed out the needs of the area in terms of alleviating the economic impact. Specific Federal program assistance requirements were then identified.

Preliminary Development Strategy. In some cases, the
economic opportunities that such closures created were
pointed out. Tentative development options and potentials
were delineated.

The foregoing analyses were undertaken on all realignment locations and consequently, classification was given to impact problems as either severe, moderate or slight. These measures of the degree of the impact were established to guide the timing and nature of EAC assistance.

1/ Due to security constraints, evaluation limited to basic research,

1

Step 2 - Coordination with OSD 2/and the Military Services (April 1973)

A new

Nature of Cuts. Specific points reviewed were timing of

actual closure/realignments, amount of personnel actually

to be displaced and the exact nature of the properties expected to be declared excess to Do D.

Base Commander's Briefing Package. Coincident with
this planning was the development of a base commander's
briefing package. This material included specific informa-
tion on the President's Economic Adjustment Committee,
including its resources, mode of operation and relevance
to the impact situation. Specific data on aid programs, such
as personnel placement, homeowners assistance and
employment rights were also included. The purpose of
this package was to provide the base commander, "the man
on the firing line, " with comprehensive background on
economic adjustment in order that inquiries to Washington
would be minimized and that local concerns would be im-
mediately met.

Property Disposition Procedures.

Directions were given

to all services to ensure timely declaration of excess
reports both with real and personal property. Instructions
were given to ensure that as much property as possible
(within service and legal constraints) be provided as the
foundation for community adjustment programs.

Department of Defense directive (number 5410. 12) recently was published to establish policy guidance, assign organizational responsibilities and provide procedures for carrying out an Economic Adjustment Program.

STAGE II

RESEARCH AND ORGANIZATION

Step 3 Base Commander's Briefing (April 16, 1973)

OEA and military service representatives briefed all base commanders of facilities to be closed prior to Congressional notification

2/ OSD - Office of the Secretary of Defense (Installations and Housing)