Base Hitter

HEADNOTE

LEADERSHIP PROFILE

HEADNOTE

Philip Grone has the unenviable job of proposing which military posts to shutdown.

Philip Grone,

the Defense Department's deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and environment, sometimes gets gentle ribbing from his former colleagues on Capitol Hill. "There are folks who have occasionally joked with me, 'You used to be over here, and now you're doing this,' " says Grone, who spent about 16 years as a congressional staff member before coming to the Pentagon.

But when the Defense Department announces which military bases it will close or scale back in 2005, they might not be so gentle. Grone is the Defense point man on those closings and likely will face sharp questions when the Pentagon releases its list on May 16.

"This is really the last time in a political generation we can do [base closings]. We really have to get this right," says Grone, who aside from overseeing the base realignment and closure process manages $650 billion worth of Defense installations covering 460,000 square miles worldwide, including environmental cleanups at former bases. His job requires Senate confirmation.