Our community's dependence on the Eglin/Hurlburt military presence and the tourism industry provides us two main pillars of economic health. The facts and numbers supporting their contributions are arguably irrefutable. With this precarious dependence it may not be an unfamiliar ill-feeling when the "B-word" (Base Realignment and Closure Commission - BRAC) is being uttered again in Washington. Force modernization plans to deal with non-Cold War threats is placing pressure to make serious adjustments. The recent Air Force directive to consolidate three Eglin fighter squadrons to two is an example of the measures deemed appropriate to equip, organize, and train for future conflicts.

Still smarting from the last BRAC go-around, it may very well be time to examine the viability of a third pillar rather than assume we are going to squeak through another BRAC ordeal. The fallacy of a reliance on a two-pillar strategy is analogous to sitting a stool that has only two legs. Three legs is a firm foundation, two is a balancing act requiring teetering one way or another to shift balance. The one-two punch of BRAC and OPAL should have been our wake-up call to a two pillar dependency. The broader the base of industry clusters, the more likely that we will survive the vicissitudes of economic growth and natural disasters. Congressman Scarborough and local officials have proclaimed their desire to avoid a repeat of our community's economic throat held at knife-point by a political commission far removed from our shores.

What type of industry do we attract that holds promise and leverages our existing capabilities, talents, and existing infrastructure? The information technology (IT) industry may be a candidate.

During the quarterly Economic Summit last spring the president of GTE Federal System, spoke of the rapidly emerging information technology industry. For many of us this is the Internet, World Wide Web, and the myriad of hardware/software products dotting the telecommunications landscape. At this same summit, the Air Force spoke of the evolving mission area of information dominance. This is the requirement for the Air Force to be able to exploit information and deny the enemy the use of information in order to accomplish its mission.

These two themes are compatible. Information technology industry products are the backbone for the Eglin/Hurlburt communications infrastructure as well as for specialized applications for smart weapons development. With the IT use in the military and contracting environment we could leverage a strong labor base for IT companies. This area is a very computer literate area by many measures, my estimates put approximately 20,000 Web-capable computers in Okaloosa County.

So if the IT industry is deemed to be an attractive clean industry to recruit perhaps we should consider a focused approach to key companies. Recently I noticed a marquee at a Destin resort stating "Welcome Cisco Company". Cisco's success is "the" Internet success story written about in Business Week and industry trade publications. They manufacture communications hardware that connects the different Internet servers. Their success can be likened to that of a paving contractor in the 50s when President Eisenhower mandated that the interstate highway system to be built. When companies of this caliber are intrigued enough to vacation here we should certainly lobby them to bring their business and stay here.

When Air Force examines manpower levels as a means to attain force modernization we can expect to see fewer people supporting much smarter pieces of equipment. But it is the people that primarily put the money in the economy and buy homes. Along with our inherent vulnerability to the forces of nature such as Opal it would be to wake up at the "first" wake up call. It makes sense to examine a third economic pillar and leverage the two we already have to attract and integrate them into our community.

Last fall the Fort Walton Beach chamber hosted the Silicon Beach exposition to promote awareness of information technology and the Internet to the local community. The name embraces the concept. The sand from the beach is used to make silicon chips, and suggests that this area has reached an evolutionary milestone after millions of years. The name embodies our high-tech and tourism orientation and has a much better ring than "Silicon Valley". Regardless, by whatever means or themes, we need to drive our own destiny.

Scott Jackson
Destin

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