A provision added to the 2012 defense authorization act would give Defense Secretary Robert Gates the authority to delay the Army’s move to the Mark Center in Alexandria, something local officials said is needed to prevent traffic gridlock around the site. The House Armed Services Committee, working into the wee hours of Thursday morning, approved the provision after the Pentagon told Virginia officials that it didn’t have the authority to delay moving 6,400 defense workers to the site near the intersection of Interstate 395 and Seminary Road by Sept. 15. That deadline was set by a military base-closing commission and could only be altered by Congress.
The committee’s provision would allow Gates to delay the moves of up to seven Base Realignment and Closure projects for up to a year — until Sept. 15, 2012.
