GAO: DEFENSE INFRASTRUCTURE - Army’s Approach for Acquiring Land Is Not Guided by Up-to-Date Strategic Plan or Always Communicated Effectively

GAO: DEFENSE INFRASTRUCTURE - Army’s Approach for Acquiring Land Is Not Guided by Up-to-Date Strategic Plan or Always Communicated Effectively
January 13, 2009

Recently, the Army forecast that it would experience a 4.5-million-acre training land shortfall by 2013 and proposed to purchase additional land adjacent to certain existing training ranges. In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Army’s approach for acquiring training land. This report (1) evaluates the Army’s approach to the acquisition of training land, (2) describes the Army’s consideration of alternatives and assessment of the environmental and economic effects, and (3) analyzes the Army’s effectiveness in communicating its approach for making decisions to pursue these acquisitions before the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s (OSD) approval. GAO reviewed the Army strategic plan for training lands and other relevant documents, and focused on all five land acquisitions since 2002 at Fort Irwin, California; three training sites in Hawaii; and the proposed expansion of the Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site in Colorado.

What GAO Recommends
GAO recommends that (1) the Army develop and implement a process to update periodically its strategic plan for training ranges to reflect current needs and (2) OSD and the Army jointly review their strategies for communicating major land acquisitions and agree on a common practice that would address concerns about early disclosure and provide the Army and the other services some flexibility to engage the public. DOD generally agrees with the recommendations.

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