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GAO-10-977R 1 (2010-09-14)

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United States Government Accountability Office
Washington, DC 20548





   September 14, 2010


   Congressional Committees


   Subject: Military Training: DOD Continues to Improve Its Report on the Sustainability of
   Training Ranges


   Recent operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world have
   highlighted the need for U.S. forces to train as they intend to fight. Military training ranges
   provide the primary means to accomplish this goal. The Department of Defense's (DOD)
   training ranges vary in size from a few acres, for small arms training, to over a million acres
   for large maneuver exercises and weapons testing, and include broad open ocean areas for
   offshore training and testing. New advances in military technology to combat emerging
   threats in ongoing operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other locations around the world
   generate the need to continually update and maintain DOD's training ranges. Senior DOD
   and military service officials have reported for some time that they face increasing
   difficulties in carrying out realistic training at military installations due to outside influences.
   DOD has defined a number of factors-including air pollution, noise pollution, endangered
   species, critical habitats and other protected resources, and urban growth around
   installations-that it says encroach upon its training ranges and capabilities.

   Because the military faces obstacles in acquiring new training lands, the preservation and
   sustainment of its current lands are a priority. Sustainable training range management
   focuses on practices that allow the military to manage its ranges in a way that ensures their
   usefulness well into the future. As required by section 366(a) of the Bob Stump National
   Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2003 (as amended),' DOD was to submit a
   comprehensive plan for using existing authorities available to the department to address
   training constraints caused by limitations on the use of worldwide military lands, marine
   areas, and airspace to Congress in fiscal year 2004 with annual progress reports beginning in
   fiscal year 2005 and extending through 2013. Enclosure I includes the full text of section 366
   as amended. As part of the preparation of this plan, the Secretary of Defense was to conduct
   an assessment of current and future training range requirements and an evaluation of the


   'Pub. L. No. 107-314 (2002). Section 366 originally required reports for fiscal years 2005 through 2008.
   However, this requirement was extended through 2013 by section 348 of the John Warner National Defense
   Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, Pub. L. No. 109-364 (2006). Additionally, section 1063(c)(2) of Pub. L.
   No. 110-181 (2008) made a clerical amendment to section 348 of Pub. L. No. 109-364.


GAO-10-977R Military Training


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