By The Associated Press

Senators from Maine and New Hampshire have asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld for assurances the Pentagon won’t jump the gun on any of its base closing recommendations.

In a letter released Tuesday, Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine and John Sununu and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire said they don’t want any units or activities transferred from based targeted for closure until Congress has acted on the final list.

“The Department of Defense should under no circumstances begin to take action on closing and realigning bases across the country before the Base Realignment and Closing Commission process has come to an end,” the four Republicans said in a joint statement.

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Brunswick Naval Air Station and an accounting center in Limestone, all in Maine, are on the closure and realignment list the Pentagon issued May 13. The commission is holding hearings and has until Sept. 8 to submit a final list to President Bush, who must approve it or reject it as is.

“We seek your assurance that no member of the armed forces may be discharged, demoted, suspended, threatened, harassed, or in any other manner discriminated against” for testimony supporting any targeted base, the senators wrote. They asked for the same protections for civilian workers at bases.

Congressional delegations from both states condemned the inclusion of Portsmouth on the list. The Maine delegation also opposes stripping Brunswick of its planes and most of its personnel, and the proposed closing of the accounting center.

Congressional delegations from affected states are building cases for removing bases from the list, but say they have been hampered by not having background documents. Collins and Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., subpoenaed the documents last week. The two said Monday the documents were beginning to flow and they would extend the deadline from Monday to Friday.