K.C. office among U.S. base closings

? Three major military offices in Missouri will close and send thousands of jobs to other states, a federal panel decided Thursday, dealing a blow to employees who must either pack up or find new work.

Eight members of the nine-member Base Closure and Realignment Commission approved a Pentagon recommendation to close the Army Human Resources Command office in the St. Louis suburb of Overland and send more than 1,000 jobs to Fort Knox, Ky. One member abstained.

The base-closing commission also voted to shut down the Army’s historic Walter Reed hospital and move about 20,000 defense workers miles away from their offices just outside the nation’s capital.

Unlike other states, such as Kansas, Missouri officials did not hire lobbyists to help protect military installations until after the Pentagon announced its cuts.

The nine-member panel also started deciding which Air Force facilities should be closed or consolidated as part of the Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld’s nationwide restructuring of military bases.

The panel voted without objection to close two Defense Finance and Accounting Service offices in Kansas City and St. Louis, where more than 900 jobs are on the chopping block.

The decisions are a blow to Missouri officials and members of Congress who have lobbied furiously to keep the offices open in the three months since the Pentagon first announced its plan.

Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., whose district includes the Kansas City DFAS office, called Thursday’s vote “shortsighted” and said the closings would cause “irreparable harm to the nation and the community.”

The Kansas City office, which processes paychecks for servicemen, would lose about 600 personnel.