Senator Warner met with local, state and federal officeholders from across Hampton Roads today to help craft a responsible and focused strategy in response to a recent Pentagon proposal to close-down the military's Joint Forces Command, or JFCOM, in Portsmouth.

Today's strategy session included the region's local elected officials, representatives from Governor McDonnell's office, and other business and community leaders. U.S. Reps. Bobby Scott and Glenn Nye participated, and senior staffers represented Sen. Jim Webb and Reps. Randy Forbes and Rob Wittman.

The Virginian-Pilot reported on Senator Warner’s comments at the meeting:

“We cannot rest,” said Warner, who added that the region needs to mobilize as it did a few years ago to successfully block a proposal to close Oceana Naval Air Station. "We need to speak with one voice."

JFCOM’s mission is to coordinate training and operational strategy between the different branches of the military, and it forms the nucleus of a regional "hub" of high-tech modelling and simulation work by private-sector partners and Virginia universities.

At the meeting, Senator Warner argued that it was vital for elected leaders to come together in a bipartisan effort and work together to make the strongest case for preserving JFCOM.

He also urged local leaders to coordinate a business-based argument for saving the Command.

“What we've got to do is, this is hard for the region to hear, but we can't just say 'woe is us, we're going to lose a lot of jobs if this happens.'" Senator Warner said in an interview with WAVY-10 . "We've got to make the business case that it is in the best interest of the warfighter to maintain these facilities here. And that from a business case, Joint Forces Command actually saves the Defense Department money by not having the duplication between the services.”

In addition, Senator Warner said it was important for leaders to begin thinking about a "Plan B" to preserve key pieces of JFCOM's activities, as The Daily Press reported.

And he had this to say to WAVY-TV:

“We're going to make sure we get these answers from the Defense Department, and that we're going to get our chance to make our case, both legally, and in Congress, and on a lobbying basis."