Where have all the buildings gone?

The Defense Department doesn’t have the number of facilities, equipment and square footage that it once thought it did, according to a recent government audit, calling into question whether there’s a need for another round of Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC). In recent years, Pentagon leadership had decried it had too much, and began asking for another BRAC. “We thought we had more … than we did,” David Norquist, DoD chief financial officer, said Jan. 9. The audit showed 6.5 percent of buildings and infrastructure on the Navy’s property books didn’t exist. They had been demolished or replaced, but no one took them off the books, he said. The Army did account for its buildings, but auditors found a number of the buildings were inhabitable. The audit comes as the U.S. military is growing and forces are planning to withdraw from Syria and Afghanistan. The idea of excess DoD infrastructure comes as President Trump decides whether to declare a national emergency that would allow him to raid military construction accounts to fund the border wall. MILCON funds are used for projects like base housing and runways. (Source: Defense One 01/09/19)