WASHINGTON – The office of Senator Joe Lieberman, D-Conn., said Monday the Pentagon had produced additional data, under pressure from a Congressional subpoena, that could help base supporters evaluate how the Department of Defense arrived at its decision to recommend the closing of U.S. Submarine Base, New London.
A Pentagon officer handed over to the Committee the new material – including four discs containing thousands of pages of information – that appear to be at least partially responsive to questions Lieberman and other Connecticut delegation members have been asking for for three weeks. Some of the information will be posted publicly on the Pentagon’s base closing website and some will not be released publicly.
“We are gratified that, as a result of Senators Lieberman’s and Collins’ subpoena, the Pentagon has increased the stream of data it is making available,” said Leslie Phillips, Democratic Communications Director for the Committee. “We expect some of this information will be helpful in answering our questions, although additional analysis is needed to confirm that.”
Senator Lieberman, Ranking Member of the HSGAC, and Chairman Susan Collins, R-Me., issued the subpoena last week following weeks of complaints from Members of Congress, state officials, and representatives of affected communities. In part because of a good faith effort on the part of the Pentagon to release additional information, the Senators extended a June 13 compliance deadline until June 17.
“We expect the information flow to continue through the week,” Phillips said.