OAN Staff Katherine Mosack
8:10 AM – Friday, October 10, 2025
United States Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has announced the creation of a new Barracks Task Force with the aim of improving living conditions for U.S. military personnel.
Hegseth made the announcement on Tuesday in a speech to recruits at the Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia. According to the secretary, over the next 30 days, the task force will develop an investment plan to address issues within barracks.
War Department officials will review and approve actions initiated by the force, and the effort will be funded by President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
“It is simply unacceptable that in some cases our warriors continue to live in substandard housing,” Hegseth said in his announcement. “Every warfighter of our joint force deserves housing that is clean, comfortable, and safe.”
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), a nonpartisan watchdog organization, released a report in 2023 that found that service members faced “poor living conditions,” including photos of sewage overflow in training barracks restrooms. The organization made 31 recommendations for the War Department to mend the issues it found.
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“We observed barracks in poor condition, including some with safety risks like sewage overflow and inoperable fire systems,” said the GAO.
“We are going to fix the barracks issue across all of our services, because two years ago, the Government Accountability Office released a report that said, quote, ‘poor living conditions undermine quality of life and readiness,’” Hegseth stated, referring to the 2023 report.
The GAO report claimed that the Pentagon lacked sufficient knowledge of the state of military barracks, which often had “potentially serious health and safety risks.”
“Despite that report,” Hegseth added, “the Biden administration did nothing.”
Earlier this year, the Department of War, previously known as the Department of Defense (DOD), had redirected approximately $1 billion away from Army barracks renovations to support new troops deployed at the southern border in support of the Trump administration’s immigration efforts.
“We can build a lot of beautiful things. Our commander in chief is a builder. He understands building and building efficiently and well,” Hegseth stated. “Adequate housing for our force is critical to reviving a warrior ethos. In rebuilding our military. Barracks are where warriors go to rest and recover, a place to go to mentally and physically prepare for winning the next fight.”
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