WASHINGTON (AP) – Despite his plea not “to pull a thread out,” the base closing commission yanked away at Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s intricate plan to restructure military facilities.

The nine-member commission endorsed Rumsfeld’s vision of repositioning the military to face future threats and his effort to streamline the Army, Navy and Air Force. But it made changes – some large, some small, all politically sensitive – to achieve those goals in its own way.

Overruling the Pentagon, the commission voted to keep more than a half-dozen major bases open.

For two of Rumsfeld’s biggest requests, the Pentagon wanted to close the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine, and Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. The commission spared both, saying it feared the shutting them down would leave the Northeast vulnerable to attack.

Commissioners showed a willingness to oppose the secretary, who argued that even small changes could compromise the overall plan. In doing so, they opened themselves to criticism that politics influenced their version of the blueprint to restructure bases for the first time in a decade.

Participants in earlier rounds of base closings said it appeared this commission picked different criteria – military value, economic impact or, in some cases, historic significance – to justify some decisions.

“It’s hard to discern a consistent approach,” said David Berteau, who oversaw base closings for the Pentagon in 1991 and 1993.

Rumsfeld told reporters last week that he did not change any part of the proposal, which his staff assembled over two years.

“I looked at it and said that it would be risky for me to try to second-guess all of that and pull a thread out and have some nonintuitive effects that one couldn’t anticipate because I hadn’t spent the two and a half years doing it,” he said.

The commission insists that politics had no role.

The chairman, Anthony Principi, said the commission successfully balanced “proposals to restructure military infrastructure against the human and painful impact of those proposals.”

But within minutes of certain votes, some lawmakers who represent states that lost bases cried foul.

In the most politically contentious reversal, Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota won a reprieve. The Pentagon sought to shutter the base that has half of the nation’s B1-B bombers and is in Sen. John Thune’s backyard.

The freshman Republican unseated Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in last fall’s election, partly on the strength of his claim that he would be better positioned to help save the base.

The commission found that closing Ellsworth would not save any money over 20 years and could devastate South Dakota’s economy. It also said putting all bombers at one base could pose a risk.

Thune said Ellsworth survived on its merits, not because of politics.

But Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., whose state is set to lose Fort Monmouth, was less certain about the commission’s work.

“Politics – not the security of our country and the safety of our soldiers – is obviously a significant force driving this process. Keeping a Cold War-era base open and closing Fort Monmouth, which is essential to the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, makes no sense,” Lautenberg said.

Economic factors, rather than military strategy, largely guided the commission’s decision to keep open – for now and without any aircraft – Cannon Air Force base in Clovis, N.M.

Closing the base would put at least a 20 percent dent in the local economy and cost almost 5,000 jobs on the base and in the community near the New Mexico-Texas line, the commission found. Cannon is home to three F-16 fighter squadrons; a fourth was deactivated last month.

The commission scrapped the Air Force’s proposal to restructure the Air National Guard and take away aircraft from more than two dozen Air Guard units. Instead, the commission came up with its own overhaul, saying it more evenly distributed aircraft across the country and ensured that more states had flying units.

Governors feared losing the prestige and security of having a fighter wing. They complained that state military leaders were not consulted about the Air Force’s plan.

Some states even sued, contending the Pentagon had no right to close units without a governor’s consent. The commission’s counsel agreed with the states, only to be overruled by the Justice Department.

Not everything went against Rumsfeld.

Commissioners approved many closures and consolidations. They signed off on much of the Pentagon’s plan to streamline support, administrative, medical and training services to create joint-service “centers of excellence.”

Pentagon officials have kept silent about the commission’s changes.

The commission must turn over its final report to President Bush by Sept. 8. He can accept it, reject it or send it back for revisions. Congress will have a chance to veto the plan in its entirety, but it has gone along with four previous rounds of base closings.

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On the Net:

Pentagon’s base closing plan: http://www.defenselink.mil/brac/

Base closing commission: http://www.brac.gov

AP-ES-08-27-05 1446EDT

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