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
Israeli Army Radio's diplomatic correspondent quoted a senior Israeli official as saying: So he [Trump] decided to cut off contact. That might still change, but that’s the situation right now
Israeli Army Radio's diplomatic correspondent quoted a senior Israeli official as saying: Trump’s circle told him [Dermer] that Netanyahu was manipulating him, and there’s nothing Trump hates more than being portrayed as someone being played
Senior Palestinian official to Al Mayadeen: Meetings between the Israelis, Egyptians, and Qataris are all centered around the Israeli proposal, which does not guarantee an end to the war [on Gaza]
Senior Palestinian official to Al Mayadeen: “Israel” is threatening to expand the ground offensive if Hamas rejects the proposal
Senior Palestinian official to Al Mayadeen: Hamas rejects the Israeli proposal, viewing it as failing to guarantee an end to the war
Senior Palestinian official to Al Mayadeen: “Israel” is sticking to its proposal, and insists there is no alternative offer on the table for negotiation
Senior Palestinian official to Al Mayadeen: The meetings between the Israelis and the Egyptians and Qataris all revolve around the Israeli proposal
The administration was clearly looking for an off-ramp for this campaign against Ansar Allah, NBC News reports, citing US official
Trump's operation against Ansar Allah cost more than $1 billion, NBC News reports, citing US official
White smoke signals new pope elected: AFP

Pentagon’s unused properties drain billions in taxpayer funds

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: Responsible Statecraft
  • 8 May 2025 21:02
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

Trump cut off contact with Netanyahu: Israeli media citing official

US doesn't need Israeli permission to strike deal with Yemen: Huckabee

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

Pro-Palestinian protesters march toward the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters, Saturday, April 5, 2025, in Washington (AP)

US House to vote on bill criminalizing boycott of 'Israel'

  • Politics
  • 3 May 2025
Throughout Operation Prosperity Guardian, current and former US military and intelligence officials expressed disquiet at the enormous “cost offset” involved in battling Ansar Allah. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

Ansar Allah triumphant: US facing Red Sea defeat again

  • Opinion
  • 3 May 2025
Pakistan downs an Indian jet and hits a military base in Kashmir escalation.

Pakistan downs 3 Indian jets, hits military base in Kashmir escalation

  • Politics
  • 7 May 2025
Yemeni missile hits Ben Gurion Airport as interceptors fail

YAF targeted Ben Gurion with hypersonic ballistic missile: Saree

  • MENA
  • 4 May 2025

Coverage

All
Gaza prevails against genocide

Read Next

All
UN experts warn: Stop the genocide or witness Gaza's end
Politics

Stop the genocide or witness end of life in Gaza: UN experts warn

Israeli police attack mourners as they carry the casket of killed Al Jazeera veteran journalist Shireen Abu Akleh during her funeral in occupied al-Quds, Friday, May 13, 2022. (AP)
Politics

Israeli sniper who killed journalist Shireen Abu Akleh identified

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

Pentagon’s unused properties drain billions in taxpayer funds

Haaretz
Palestine

Israeli military avoids calling up unwilling reservists: Haaretz

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