“Your first obligation is to do what is right for America and build the military,” the retired 11-term congressman said Tuesday. “All it means for the state of Utah is I'll treat them fairly."

In fact, Hansen said, as far as Utah getting a strategic advantage in keeping its bases open, "I'd be better . . . working for the Utah Defense Alliance than as a commissioner.”

The Utah alliance is a group of contractors, businesses and local governments working to preserve Utah's bases.

The entire base closure process has been designed in an attempt to eliminate political pressure from the decisions.

“No matter how much a friend of Utah Jim Hansen is, he's very unlikely to make choices that favor his home state unless they're based on real merit,” said Loren Thompson, a defense analyst with The Lexington Institute. “The process would unravel if people thought he was not objective.”

Past commissioners often voluntarily recused themselves from deliberations or votes on home-state bases, said Jim Owsley, who was senior staff director in the 1995 Base Realignment and Closure [BRAC] round.

Hansen said Tuesday that if the facts showed Hill Air Force Base, Utah's largest employer, should be closed, he would have no choice but to vote to close it.

Hansen is one of two individuals picked for the BRAC Commission by House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., although Hansen said there are no guarantees he'll be on the final panel. Conceivably, President Bush or the Senate could reject the suggestion or, Hansen said, he could flunk an FBI background check.

But base closure experts say the president has never refused the speaker's choices, and Thompson said that, given Hansen's qualifications and Republican backing, his spot is secure.

“I guarantee you the president will not reject Jim Hansen,” Thompson said.

Hansen served for 22 years on the House Armed Services Committee. He was also chairman of the Congressional Depot Caucus, consisting of more than 100 members with defense depots in their districts. The experience gave him broad insight into the defense depot structure, subject of the toughest BRAC decisions.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said the Pentagon has 25 percent more bases than it needs. The goal of the upcoming base closure round is to trim that fat and save taxpayers $7 billion, while focusing the future military mission.

“I totally agree with the secretary that we've got way too many bases,” Hansen said. “There's a lot of World War II stuff, a lot of bricks-and-mortar and not enough gee-whiz stuff.” The 2005 Commission will require a supermajority to remove a base from the defense secretary's closure list.

“The way it's set up this time is the most tightly controlled ever and I think its going to be harder and harder to have political influence this time,” said Owsley, who is consulting for bases in Massachusetts, Georgia, North Dakota and Illinois. “If you're on that list, it's going to be almost impossible to get off.”

In March, Bush will send the Senate the final names of the nine commissioners. Rumsfeld will send the BRAC Commission a list of recommended base closures in May and the commissioners will spend the next four months touring bases. The Commission's final report will go to Bush in September. It cannot be changed, but the president or the Senate can reject the entire report.