THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 11, 1995 TAG: 9505110406
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JACK DORSEY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 91 lines
In the wake of an abrupt change in U.S. policy toward Cuban refugees, Navy Secretary John H. Dalton said he expected the Guantanamo Bay Naval Station to be restored to full Navy use by early next year.
Additional Navy personnel and their dependents should be returned to the Cuban base by January, Dalton said Wednesday in an interview.
The announcement was the first indication that the Navy wants to return the base to the status it had before last September's evacuation of more than 2,000 dependents.
``Ultimately, we do want to have the dependents returned and I think I see a long-term role for Guantanamo Bay for the Navy Department,'' Dalton said. ``I think there is a good possibility that Guantanamo Bay would be restored to the way it was prior to this deal.''
The dependents had to return to the United States when more than 40,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees were taken to Guantanamo after fleeing their homes in rafts and boats to escape poverty and repression.
There were concerns for the dependents' safety, as well as their comfort, as the 45-square-mile base became jammed with refugees and the 6,000 troops sent to control and feed them.
Dalton said he visited the base last week and discussed a timetable for the dependents' return.
``It won't be this September,'' said Dalton. ``It won't be that early. Some other options are next January or the following September.''
In a turnaround of U.S. immigration policy toward Cuba last week, the Clinton administration said it will grant entry to most of the 21,000 Cuban boat people remaining at Guantanamo Bay and will forcibly return future refugees intercepted at sea. That policy was implemented this week.
Attorney General Janet Reno announced the move, portraying the policy as a new strategy to pre-empt violence at Guantanamo and to avert another exodus from the island nation.
If the latest plans go forward as projected, said Dalton, the base can start returning to normal once all refugees are moved out.
The Navy said last month it planned to transfer its Atlantic Fleet training center and repair facilities from Guantanamo to Mayport, Fla., citing the strain that migrant operations had put on the Cuba base. As a training site, Guantanamo had played host to thousands of sailors and Marines annually.
Dalton did not say whether those transfer plans will change in light of the new policy.
Dalton, visiting Norfolk for meetings with Navy officials, said his top priority has been to improve the quality of life for sailors, Marines and their families.
Inspecting a $10 million housing repair project at the Armed Forces Staff College, Dalton said the Navy has not kept pace with housing needs. It would take 30 years to bring all Navy housing units up to standard, he said.
He supported a new program, announced by Defense Secretary William J. Perry last week, that offers incentives for private developers to build Navy housing. The move could reduce the process to 10 years.
Here are other highlights from the interview:
The Navy remains committed to six-month deployments and has no intention of returning to longer deployments like those of 20 years ago. Former Navy Secretary Sean O'Keefe, a member of a Pentagon commission, warned Norfolk City Council members Tuesday that flat budgets could force the Navy in such a direction.
Congress should fully fund the Navy's request for a third Seawolf-class submarine. ``We need that ship,'' he said, citing Russia's submarine program, which has launched six subs that are quieter than the Navy's best attack submarine. He also pointed to China's 130-sub fleet and the interest expressed by Iran and India in buying new subs.
It would be wasteful not to complete the third sub, he said. The Navy has invested $900 million in it and would have to spend at least $700 million more, possibly as much as $1.1 billion, to finish SSN-21 and SSN-22 - the first two submarines of the Seawolf class. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo by Paul Aiken
Navy Secretary John H. Dalton
[events]
September 1994: More than 2,000 dependents of Navy personnel are
evacuated from Guantanamo Bay Naval Station when the base is forced
to house more than 40,000 Haitian and Cuban refugees.
This week: The Clinton administration begins returning refugees
intercepted at sea. Most of the 21,000 Cuban boat people still at
Guantanamo will be granted entry into the United States.
January 1996: Navy personnel and their dependents should be back
at Guantanamo, according to Dalton.
KEYWORDS: MILITARY BASE by CNB