Defense Infrastructure. Additional Information Is Needed to Better Explain the Proposed 100,000-Acre Expansion of the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site

In 2007, the Army announced that the Office of the Secretary of Defense OSD had approved its request to expand its Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site, Colorado, by acquiring up to an additional 418,577 acres. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 required the Army to address 29 provisions related to the expansion in a report to Congress. In July 2008, the Army reported that, although it had revalidated the requirement for at least 418,577 additional acres at the maneuver site, in response to community, cost, and other concerns it now proposed to limit the acquisition of additional training land to 100,000 acres. The act also required GAO to review the Armys report and the justification for the proposed expansion. This report examines the extent to which the Armys report 1 addresses the provisions of the mandate and 2 explains the selection of the 100,000-acre site. GAO compared the mandate requirements with the responses in the Armys report, met with Army officials to discuss the expansion, and visited the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site and Fort Carson. GAO recommends that the Army provide Congress with additional information explaining 1 six of the responses to the mandate and 2 the rationale for selecting the 100,000 acres for the proposed expansion. DOD partially agreed with the recommendations.