Will ‘BRAC for VA’ lead to veterans hospital closures or building more clinics?

The Defense Department’s past base closure rounds have proven complicated and contentious for lawmakers, especially in communities that lost military bases and the economic benefits that come with them.

Now, federal officials are about to see if a BRAC for the Department of Veterans Affairs will prove just as controversial.

VA officials later this month are expected to name the nine individuals who will serve on the department’s Asset and Infrastructure Review Commission, a congressionally mandated panel that will recommend “actions to modernize or realign a facility of the Veterans Health Administration.”

The initiative...