Report estimates replacement cost of Defense property at half a trillion dollars

The Defense Department's physical property would cost more than half a trillion dollars to replace, according to a new report from the Pentagon.

"The Defense Department's physical plant is huge by any standard," according to the Defense Department's 2003 Base Structure Report. "Sites range from small unoccupied locations supporting a single navigational aid on less than one-half acres, to the Navy's complex of installations at Norfolk, Va., with more than 71,000 employees, and to the Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, that includes over $3.6 million acres." Overall, the Defense Department operates nearly 7,000 military installations and 600,000 buildings on about 30 million acres of land.

Glenn Flood, a Defense Department spokesman, said the Pentagon has provided the list to Congress each year for the past several years at the request of lawmakers. "It lets everybody know what we have," he said.

The list is likely to be closely scrutinized as the Pentagon readies for another round of base closures in 2005 and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld presses forward with plans for realigning military forces overseas.

The report breaks down the military bases in every state, the amount of land they cover, the number of civilian and military personnel authorized for each site, and the cost of replacing the facilities. Not surprisingly, California and Texas have the largest military presence. For example, California has 322 military locations, including 18 "large" installations with property replacement values above $1.5 billion, spread over 4 million acres. The state also has a capacity for 199,404 military personnel and 44,149 civilian federal workers. Texas meanwhile, has 253 military installations, including five large ones, spread over a half-million acres. The state has slots for 126,859 military personnel and 27,387 civilian workers.

The report offers a detailed breakdown of Defense personnel based in foreign countries. In Germany, Defense owns more than 15,000 buildings spread over 157,891 acres and has slots for 71,702 military personnel and 9,307 civilians. The cost to replace those facilities would be $38.2 billion.