Vital role of Air Force base requires protection.

ONE of America's most valuable national defense assets is an Air Force base in Los Angeles that has no runways, no control tower and no aircraft.

Located near Los Angeles International Airport, Los Angeles Air Force Base is more like a well-defended office park. Its heart is the Space and Missile Systems Center, whose missions include supervision of the NAVSTAR global positioning system--the essential space-based GPS guidance network on which our precision weapons rely--as well as launch programs for satellites and an array of space-based surveillance programs. A companion entity, Aerospace Corp., is a unique public-private partnership that serves as a broker between the Defense Department and its contractors.

Every morning, the most powerful weapons at this base--human beings--bring with them unparalleled experience, technical acumen and a commitment to the nation's security. They are almost 5,000-strong and they support tens of thousands of manufacturing and research jobs in companies and universities around the state that are tied to the base's defense mission. The critically important decisions they make each day save the lives of American fighting men and women around the globe.

The sophisticated space-based activities could not be more relevant to our national security concerns today and in the future. Nevertheless, as in previous years, it is a closure target as the federal government moves forward with the Base Realignment and Closure process. This highly sophisticated and integrated operation finds itself at risk because the national military base review has opened the door for politically powerful states to lure the facility to a new location.

The disadvantages such a costly disruption could entail for our nation's military are unmistakable. Los Angeles Air Force Base is a hub of advanced research and development that supports the defense of our country and its allies. Our frontline forces rely heavily on our superior space technology and control of airwave bandwidth. That dependency will only increase as our armed forces become more agile and reactive.

The capabilities to provide these tools don't develop spontaneously. Specialists typically join a program after gaining five to 20 years of technical experience in systems engineering and follow the program for 10 to 15 years.

What would happen to these highly trained civilian engineers should the Pentagon determine to spend upwards of $800 million to shut down the base and relocate its critical functions? History will sadly repeat itself: The most valuable and most experienced of the civilian scientists and engineers won't relocate and can't be compelled to do so. They can choose early retirement--and too many will. It simply takes too long to grow the experience, knowledge and judgment that only a decades-long career can produce.

Private aerospace companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman have reported that, in the past, the attrition rate when they tried to relocate has ranged from 65 percent to 80 percent--an almost complete loss of core talent.

The Defense Department and Congress have again begun reviewing which bases have outlived their usefulness and what operations should be consolidated to achieve greater efficiency. But there is rising concern that the commission's evaluation process will not properly assess the risk to the base's extraordinary assets.

A well-funded lobbying campaign is underway by Colorado interests to influence the evaluation and relocate the LAAFB's vital work to Colorado Springs--but without its vital people. Closer to home, relocation would cost this region tens of thousands of high-paying jobs in aerospace and technology. These individuals not only buoy Southern California's economy, they help attract new investment from other industries and help defend Los Angeles' reputation as a high technology leader.

If the recommendations for closures include Los Angeles Air Force Base when they reach the desk of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, he should acknowledge the base's all but irreplaceable assets and strike it from the list. If it is not on the list, Rumsfeld should identify LAAFB as what it is--a unique facility that must not be jeopardized by this or future BRAC evaluations.

George Kieffer is chairman of the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce and a partner at the law firm of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP.