CHARLESTON METRO

CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

P.O. Box 975

Charleston, SC 29402-0975
843.577.2510
843.723.4853
www.charlestonchamber.net

December 29, 2008

The Honorable Henry E. Brown, Jr.

United States House of Representatives
1124 Longworth House Office Building
Washington DC 20515

Dear Congressman Brown:

On behalf of the 2,100 members of the Charleston Metro Chamber of Commerce, I am writing to express
our opposition over the potential relocation of prisoners from the U.S. detention center in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, to the Charleston Brig, located on Naval Weapons Station Charleston.

As you well know, the Charleston community has always been supportive of our nation and our nation’s
military and defense efforts, however, we cannot support this potential decision and the negative impact it
would have upon our region.

Charleston today is the fourth largest container port on the East Coast and is one of the Department of
Defense’s strategic military seaports. More than 35 percent of the sealift cargo leaving the United States
to support the war in the Middle East has been shipped through the military seaport located on the Naval
Weapons Station. The increased security that would be required as a result of relocating these prisoners
to the Brig could have a significant impact on one of our nation’s most strategic seaports.

It is our understanding that relocating these prisoners to Charleston’s Brig would require essentially re-
building the Brig facilities. The footprint of the facility, and surrounding security needs would impact a
number of the 40+ federal tenants currently operating on the Naval Weapons Station. Most significant is
the potential impact such a move could have on SPAWAR Systems Center, Atlantic.

SPAWAR is an electronics engineering and integration center, serving all branches of the military and
federal government, including the security for the White House and Camp David. Their state-of-the-art
headquarters facility, comprised of more than one million square feet of space, would potentially have to
be relocated if the Brig were to be chosen to house these prisoners.

SPAWAR directly employs more than 2,400 people and indirectly more than 8,000 in our community.
With an average salary in excess of $75,000, SPAWAR’s payroll alone has an economic impact of over
$1 billion a year in our region. SPAWAR employs the largest concentration of engineers and computer
scientists in the state of South Carolina. The loss of this facility would be a devastating blow to our region
and state.

In our opinion, locating this prison facility on the Naval Weapons Station would have a negative economic
impact to our community We support your efforts in trying to stop Charleston from being evaluated as a
potential site for this facility.

Sincerely,

Robert O. Collins
Chairman of the Board