Keesler to become cyber hub?

WASHINGTON - A latecomer in the competition to host a new military mission that would create hundreds of high-tech jobs, Keesler Air Force Base boosters made their pitch last week.

Gov. Haley Barbour, Biloxi Mayor A.J. Holloway and Republican Sens. Thad Cochran and Roger Wicker met with Secretary of the Air Force Michael Wynne in Cochran's offices Wednesday to sell Keesler as the ideal place for the Air Force's cyber command headquarters.

Retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Clark Griffith, a consultant, did much of the talking.

"It was a very comprehensive presentation," Wicker said.

Fifteen communities want to host the headquarters of the new command, which would protect the nation's computer and communications systems from enemy attack and could launch its own cyber attacks. It's estimated the command, with an annual budget of about $2 billion, would generate thousands of high-tech jobs.

Last year, Wynne made Louisiana's Barksdale Air Force Base provisional headquarters of the command. But Air Force delays in choosing the permanent headquarters have given Barksdale's competitors, like Keesler, more time to make their cases.

The Air Force said this week that its plan to announce the site of cyber command headquarters before the new mission is inaugurated Oct. 1 has been pushed back to the end of the year.

"This is to give us additional time to carefully review all the locations under consideration," Maj. Gen. William T. Lord, provisional commander of the cyber mission, said in a statement. "We are currently reviewing how well the locations that have been identified to us match up to the needs of the Air Force."

The Air Force also has delayed a decision on selecting four finalists for the headquarters, originally scheduled to be announced in the next few weeks. It's been rescheduled for July.

Lord was unable to respond to questions regarding the delays. But he said through a spokesman, Capt. Robert Goza, that he would have more information after the Air Force holds a Feb. 25 meeting on the cyber command.

Air Force spokesman Ed Gulick said all Air Force bases are under consideration, and that may have slowed the process. The delays also may indicate the Air Force has not fully decided how the new command will work.

Initially, it was thought the headquarters would create thousands of new positions at one base and centralize the command's functions. But new descriptions of the headquarters have shrunk its size to about 500 to 550 positions.

A centralized command runs counter to the Air Force's policy of dividing a command among several bases.

Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, commander of the 8th Air Force, has said the aim of the headquarters is to consolidate the command, but without centralized operations.

Biloxi Mayor Holloway declined requests for an interview. The mayor's spokesman, Vincent Creel, said sensitivity over the competitiveness of the process makes it imprudent to publicize Keesler's pitch. But he said the base's role as an electronic training center for the Air Force - and its large medical center - are assets.

Wicker said the Gulf Coast's low cost of living and high quality of life were stressed to Wynne.

But other bases have lobbied for more than a year for the headquarters - and have offered incentives.

Bossier City, La., and the state of Louisiana each provided $50 million to create a high-tech office complex next to Barksdale for defense contractors and others who would support the mission. The community is so sure it will host the headquarters that local officials broke ground on the Cyber Innovation Center last month.

Nevertheless, Yuba County, Calif., spokesman Russ Brown said local Beale Air Force Base boosters are still optimistic their base will be considered.

"They say Barksdale has a lock on it, but we're not so sure," Brown said. "We think we have a good chance. We have a lot of universities and Silicon Valley is right at our doorstep."

To better their chances, business leaders are tapping defense contractors and universities to contribute to a Center for Innovation that would function much as the Cyber Innovation Center planned for Bossier City.

Brown also said decentralization of the command could result in Beale acquiring a significant portion of the command - such as the one in charge of technology development.

"You may not have the headquarters and still have a greater piece of the puzzle," he said.

Megan Lucas, president of the Bellevue (Neb.) Chamber of Commerce, has been working to lure the cyber headquarters to nearby Offutt Air Force Base.

"Were disappointed they're pushing decisions back," she said of Air Force officials. "But they've got to do it right."