MOLD, NO HEAT OR AC, CONTAMINATED WATER: BLUMENTHAL, PANETTA & KIGGANS LEAD BIPARTISAN, BICAMERAL GROUP OF MEMBERS OF CONGRESS CALLING ON DOD TO IMPROVE ABYSMAL CONDITIONS AT MILITARY BARRACKS

Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Representatives Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA) and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) led a bipartisan, bicameral group of Members of Congress calling on the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) to immediately improve conditions at barracks facilities at ten installations. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report found that due to DOD’s failures to provide proper oversight and care of the facilities, thousands of junior servicemembers live in unsafe and unhealthy conditions.

“We write to express our profound concern and disappointment regarding the conditions that thousands of junior enlisted Service members are experiencing in barracks across the country,” wrote the lawmakers to DOD Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. “This is a failure of leadership that cannot be ignored.”

The GAO report found that junior servicemembers are living in rooms overrun with mold, with doors that do not lock, without air conditioning or heat, without access to clean drinking water, and a lack of functioning plumbing. In some instances, the GAO report revealed additional serious safety and health concerns, including squatters moving into the living spaces and requirements that servicemembers be responsible for “cleaning biological waste that may remain in a barracks room after a suicide.”

“This is reprehensible, and we expect you to take expeditious and appropriate action to hold those personnel accountable and ensure Service members are receiving the support they might require after that experience,” continued the lawmakers. “It is clear that there are failures at all levels. Across the enterprise, personnel are shirking their responsibilities to provide Service members with safe, habitable living spaces.”

The Members of Congress pressed DOD to swiftly adopt the recommendations of the GAO report and to submit updated DOD habitability guidelines before the FY25 budget request to ensure improved living standards.

“The people who choose to serve in the enlisted ranks do so selflessly with little expectation of reward. They are the soul of the military and of the Nation, and they deserve better,” wrote the lawmakers. “We trust that you will move decisively to ensure each junior enlisted member of the Armed Forces has a safe, habitable room to return to when the duty day ends.”

Panetta, Blumenthal, and Kiggans were joined in sending the letter by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Tim Kaine (D-VA), Raphael Warnock (D-GA), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), and Bernie Sanders (I-VT), and U.S. Representatives Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Nick LaLota (R-NY), Robert Wittman (R-VA), Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Derrick Van Orden (R-WI), Nancy Mace (R-SC), and Mark Alford (R-MO).

The full text of the letter can be found here and below.

September 29, 2023

The Honorable Lloyd J. Austin III

Secretary of Defense

1000 Defense Pentagon

Washington, D.C. 20301

Dear Secretary Austin:

We write to express our profound concern and disappointment regarding the conditions that thousands of junior enlisted Service members are experiencing in barracks across the country. A recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report demonstrated that the Department of Defense (DOD) is failing to provide the most basic oversight and care of barracks facilities located at ten installations.  As Secretary, you are responsible for the welfare of these Service members. This is a failure of leadership that cannot be ignored. 

The GAO report provided an embarrassing list of failures they found when inspecting these buildings. The findings, which include a comprehensive analysis of housing satisfaction data dating back to 2019, make clear that some military barracks do not meet the minimum standards set by the DOD for assignment or occupancy. Service members are living in rooms overrun with mold, doors that fail to lock, no air conditioning or heat, contaminated water, and a lack of functioning plumbing. These are not trivial deficiencies. 

The report also found that squatters moved into the barracks in one instance, raising serious questions about the security of the facilities under your purview. Another example notes that base officials told investigators that “Servicemembers are responsible for cleaning biological waste that may remain in a barracks room after a suicide.” This is reprehensible, and we expect you to take expeditious and appropriate action to hold those personnel accountable and ensure Service members are receiving the support they might require after that experience.

It is clear that there are failures at all levels. Across the enterprise, personnel are shirking their responsibilities to provide Service members with safe, habitable living spaces. When GAO investigators asked why base officials did not conduct tests on water supplies at each of the barracks buildings, those officials simply replied they were not required to. The report also notes that the service branches are failing to meet the DOD living standards themselves. The metrics for habitability are disjointed and largely ignored. More importantly, the DOD standards are dreadfully outdated and we insist that you update those guidelines before you submit your FY25 budget request. 

The report concluded that the Department simply chooses not to make barracks management a priority. Modernization and investing in next-generation equipment cannot come at the cost of your most important charter: to provide for the most junior Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen, and Guardians in the force. The report makes 31 recommendations to rectify this situation. We expect you to adopt them without delay. 

The people who choose to serve in the enlisted ranks do so selflessly with little expectation of reward. They are the soul of the military and of the Nation, and they deserve better. We know your quality as a former commander and leader, which is why this report is so troubling. We trust that you will move decisively to ensure each junior enlisted member of the Armed Forces has a safe, habitable room to return to when the duty day ends. 

Sincerely,

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