Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
President al-Mashat: Our armed forces, represented by our air defenses, will soon turn the Zionist enemy’s aircraft into a subject of ridicule.
President al-Mashat: Good news about the Zionist enemy’s aircraft used in aggression against our country will reach you soon, God willing.
President al-Mashat: Our armed forces will be able to deal with hostile Zionist aircraft without causing any harm to air or maritime navigation.
President al-Mashat: To ensure the safety of airliners, they must avoid navigating along the routes used by the Zionist entity to carry out aggression against our country.
Yemeni President Mahdi al-Mashat: For the safety of air and maritime navigation in areas where our armed forces operate, we have directed that the routes used by the Zionist enemy to attack our country be designated as dangerous.
Hamas official says despite this, Hamas leadership is currently undertaking a thorough review of the new proposal
Hamas official says the response fails to meet any of the just and legitimate demands of our people
Hamas official says it is clear that the Israeli response fundamentally seeks to entrench the occupation
Reuters citing Hamas official: Group received Israeli response to Witkoff proposal
Sources to Al Mayadeen: The news regarding a press conference tonight by the head of the Hamas movement in the Gaza Strip, Khalil Al-Hayya, is false.

Pentagon’s unused properties drain billions in taxpayer funds

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Responsible Statecraft
  • 8 May 2025 21:02
  • 1 Shares
4 Min Read

A new report exposes the Pentagon’s costly upkeep of unused buildings, with officials avoiding declarations of excess to preserve inflated budgets and funding.

Listen
  • x
  •  The Department of Defense logo is seen on the wall in the Press Briefing room at the Pentagon, Oct. 29, 2024, in Washington. (AP)
    The Department of Defense logo is seen on the wall in the Press Briefing room at the Pentagon, Oct. 29, 2024, in Washington (AP)

The Pentagon is facing renewed criticism over its continued funding of underused and abandoned infrastructure, including golf courses and warehouses that serve no operational purpose but still absorb taxpayer dollars.

In a scathing article published by Responsible Statecraft, Nick Cleveland-Stout of the Quincy Institute exposed the systemic dysfunction behind the Department of Defense’s property management system.

“What's worse than the Pentagon spending taxpayer dollars on golf courses?” he wrote. “Spending taxpayer dollars on golf courses that nobody uses.”

With $4.1 trillion in assets and control over 26.7 million acres of land, the Department of Defense (DoD) maintains one of the largest real estate portfolios in the world. Yet, a recent Pentagon report confirms what many have long suspected: vast portions of this infrastructure, clubhouses, depots, and warehouses, are sitting idle. The Army alone lists at least six unused “Golf Club House and Sales” facilities, while the Navy acknowledges two more.

Self-reported data obscures true scale of military waste

Related News

Hegseth warns of China while pressuring allies to boost arms spending

US-Israeli Gaza aid plan is catastrophic, inhumane: MSF

The waste is not limited to leisure facilities. A Pentagon official, speaking anonymously to Responsible Statecraft, stated the issue of idle buildings is “out of hand,” adding that installations are hesitant to declare assets as “excess” because doing so puts their funding at risk. Instead, many facilities are listed as “active” long after they’ve ceased to serve any function.

The 2024 Pentagon infrastructure report attempts to assess the scale of excess assets, but data inconsistencies undermine its reliability. Only the Army provided full infrastructure figures alongside estimates of excess properties. The Navy and Air Force submitted incomplete data, forcing researchers to rely on cross-referenced figures from the General Services Administration (GSA) databases.

Curiously, the Air Force claimed it reduced its excess infrastructure from around 30% in 2017 to less than 0.1% in 2024, a figure that conflicts with statements by Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allen, who maintains the service still operates with 30% more infrastructure than needed.

Incentives encourage concealment of unused infrastructure

The anonymous Pentagon official explained that military installations have little motivation to report facilities as unused. “Declaring a building ‘excess’ causes sustainment funding to drop by about 85%,” the source said. “So if a base is getting $250,000 a year to maintain a warehouse, it’ll keep that warehouse listed as active, even if it’s boarded up and completely unused.”

The report also notes the Army’s admission that it lacks the personnel to conduct utilization studies, and other branches either failed to submit complete data or offered outdated figures. This self-reported, unverified system of infrastructure accounting has allowed a phantom economy of idle facilities to thrive, on paper and on budget.

The last reliable snapshot of the Pentagon’s excess infrastructure comes from a 2017 report that used a 1989 baseline for comparison. That report estimated about 20% of all infrastructure was unnecessary, noting that even those findings underrepresented the problem. It cited the closure of numerous installations through the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process as proof that significant excess existed long before any formal evaluations were conducted.

BRAC rounds have saved taxpayers roughly $12 billion annually, and Cleveland-Stout argues that it’s time Congress authorizes a new round. In addition, he recommends mandatory annual or biennial reporting on excess infrastructure using a standardized methodology, free from self-reporting flaws and manipulation.

Without such reforms, Cleveland-Stout warns, the Pentagon’s vast network of unused facilities will continue to drain public funds in silence, hidden beneath layers of bureaucracy and protected by perverse incentives that reward waste and penalize honesty.

  • United States
  • taxpayer funds
  • Pentagon
  • Taxpayer
  • Donald Trump

Most Read

US judges quietly consider private security amid Trump tensions

US judges quietly consider private security amid Trump pressures

  • US & Canada
  • 25 May 2025
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrive to a news conference in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025, in Washington (AP)

Rift widens: Trump, Netanyahu clash in heated phone call over Iran

  • Politics
  • 26 May 2025
An Israeli army vehicle moves in the Gaza Strip as seen from southern occupied Palestine, Thursday, May 29, 2025 (AP)

Hamas rejects Witkoff ceasefire plan, says alters terms

  • Politics
  • 29 May 2025
Iran advisor reveals details of US-Iran nuclear talks to Al Mayadeen

Iran advisor reveals details of US-Iran nuclear talks: Al Mayadeen

  • MENA
  • 24 May 2025

Coverage

All
War on Gaza

Read Next

All
Doctors weigh a Palestinian baby at the Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) clinic in Muwasi, near Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, Tuesday, April 8, 2025 (AP)
Health

US-Israeli Gaza aid plan is catastrophic, inhumane: MSF

Smoke rises following an Israeli airstrike on Latakia governorate on May 30, 2025 (Social media)
Politics

Israeli airstrikes hit military targets across western Syria

An Iranian security official in protective clothing walks through part of the Uranium Conversion Facility just outside the Iranian city of Isfahan, March 30, 2005. (AP)
Politics

US, E3 to push IAEA to declare Iran in breach of nuclear commitments

A Syrian soldier closes the gate of a military base on the outskirts of Harasta, near Damascus, Syria, Saturday, May 3, 2025 (AP)
Politics

Syrians expel Israeli patrol in Quneitra amid rising tensions

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS