Not a few people recognized the irony in the trip to Russia last fall by Deputy Secretary of Defense Donald Atwood. The Russians face the challenge of converting their military production establishment to civilian pursuits. Atwood's visit was to encourage and offer support for that daunting transition process.
The irony of the trip, of course, lies in the fact that while the Bush administration is willing to aid and abet economic conversion in the former Soviet Union, it is stonewalling federal conversion planning efforts here in the United States.
A recent Office of Technology Assessment report, "After the Cold War: Living With Lower Defense Spending," projects that direct job loss from Pentagon cutbacks will average 275,000 per year between 1991 and 1995. Already substantial cuts are under way. For example, Los Angeles County alone lost 38,000 defense jobs in 1991.
How is Washington, D.C., responding to this serious economic dislocation? Very inadequately, indeed!
In October 1990, Congress passed and the president signed very modest economic adjustment legislation that allocated $200 million for assistance to laid-off defense workers and military-dependent communities hit by the closure of military bases and defense plants. That amount of money is a drop in the bucket when measured against the need for assistance. But due to bureaucratic resistance in the Department of Commerce, very little of it has thus far been expended.
The lack of substantive federal conversion legislation not only darkens the economic prospects for hundreds of thousands of defense workers, thousands of military-serving firms, and hundreds of military-dependent communities across the country, it also serves as a serious roadblock to large Pentagon cuts. After all, jobs is the name of the game - especially in these difficult times. Conservatives and liberals alike in Congress try to protect their turf from being hit by military cutbacks. For example, Rep. Ron Dellums (D-Calif.) is working diligently to prevent the closure of the Alameda Naval Air Station, which provides thousands of desperately needed blue collar jobs in his district.
Still, the absence of a powerful military opponent and the many pressing non-military demands upon the federal purse have already resulted in significant military cuts. And, given the inadequate federal response to the resulting dislocation, a number of military-dependent states and several large military-dependent cities have gone ahead and inaugurated their own conversion-planning programs.
An orchestrated campaign by peace activists resulted in Washington state establishing and funding a "Community Diversification Program" to assist workers, cities, and companies hard hit by Pentagon cuts. The state of Connecticut has targeted the resources of a quasi-public agency, Connecticut Innovations Inc., toward helping small and medium-sized defense firms make the transition to civilian production. Gov. Ann Richards of Texas recently established a Task Force on Economic Transition to coordinate conversion planning in the Lone Star State. And, reeling from massive defense-industry layoffs, Los Angeles County set up an Aerospace Task Force to develop conversion plans for local defense workers and companies.
ALTHOUGH HIGHLY motivated, these heavily impacted states and cities do not have the resources needed for the major conversion task at hand. Nonetheless, many have shown great creativity. For example, rather than concentrating solely upon retraining and other adjustment strategies, local officials in Los Angeles are attempting to stimulate non-military sectors of their economy. In a daring stroke, they recently agreed to fund the construction of a rail-vehicle manufacturing facility which they hope will make Los Angeles the national center of that critical industry.
This last example illustrates the real potential of economic conversion. It can be much more than simply an adjustment strategy away from military dependency. If applied imaginatively, conversion planning can become a catalyst for envisioning and starting to create a truly just and sustainable economy for the 21st century.
It is increasingly apparent that we need our own economic and social perestroika in the United States. Our true national security requires much more than military might. As a result of 40 years of Cold War, we have become a giant fortress, lavishing our talent and treasure upon weaponry while we decay from within.
Real security and long-term prosperity for all Americans requires that we take advantage of the wonderful opportunity provided by the demise of the Cold War. Now is the time to reinvest in the future, and economic conversion of the talent and technology in the defense sector is a key aspect of that reinvestment.
By targeting our skills and resources toward critical areas of need at home and abroad, we can start to renew our society and the rest of the world economically and spiritually. Substantial investments in environmental restoration, renewable energy development, mass transit, and the education and welfare of our youth can help to alleviate our nagging problems and, in the process, generate millions of new meaningful work opportunities for people in and out of the defense industry.
Ultimately, economic conversion is part of a much needed shift to a new way of thinking about our collective future on this planet.
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