Democratic U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown is pushing back against a decision by the Pentagon to close an office overseeing key defense manufacturing programs in the Dayton area. The programs have been headquartered at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base for the last 30 years.
Department of Defense officials recently announced a plan to relocate more than a dozen jobs to the Pentagon.
Brown and other members of the House and Senate have sent a letter to DOD Secretary James Mattis urging him to keep oversight of the programs in Ohio.
In an interview, Brown told WYSO he’s concerned about the impact of moving the jobs to Washington.
“For the military it’s disruptive, it’s wasteful, and Wright-Patt is doing this right," he says. "And I was able to convince colleagues that this makes sense for our national interests, it makes sense for taxpayers interests, it makes sense for national security. Keep this responsibility right in Dayton at the Air Force Research Lab.”
The multimillion dollar defense-manufacturing programs in question are currently overseen by the Manufacturing Technology Division at the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) .
Brown says pending an answer from the DOD, his office will follow up on the request later this week.
