Federal audit finds Eielson Air Force Base short hundreds of support workers, with one person left in housing

Eielson Air Force Base is down to one person in its housing office, and that person is responsible for the housing inspections federal law requires, according to a federal audit released Thursday.

The Government Accountability Office reviewed nine remote military installations, four of them in Alaska, and found that Eielson had 428 vacant civilian positions in critical support services from fiscal 2023 through 2025. That is more than the other eight bases combined, which had 196. Across all nine, 607 of the 624 vacancies were in morale, welfare and recreation jobs.

Eielson was also the slowest to hire. Filling a position there took an average of 407 days, more than four times the Defense Department's 98-day target.

Base officials told auditors the housing office lost half its staff through the Deferred Resignation Program, one of the 2025 federal workforce cuts. They said Pacific Air Forces leadership has also paused new hiring, allowing only moves within the command that don't add people.

The other Alaska bases in the review reported fewer vacancies but their own strains. Fort Wainwright reported seven. Fort Greely and Clear Space Force Station reported none. Even so, Fort Greely officials said the post sends primary care patients to Bassett Army Hospital at Fort Wainwright, more than 100 miles away, and planned to close its dining facility for some meals for lack of staff. Officials at three of the four Alaska installations said engineers and cooks often leave for higher-paying jobs in oil and gold mining. Eielson and Fort Wainwright officials said school consolidations mean some Eielson students commute up to an hour to class.

The Pentagon issued guidance in 2024 for formally designating bases as remote and isolated, a step meant to help identify risks to services at those bases and plan for them. The Army and Navy finished their designations in May. The Air Force, which oversees Eielson and Clear, "has opted not to make a formal designation at this time," the report says. Because of that, the risk assessment that is supposed to follow has not started for Eielson.

GAO recommended that the Defense Department clarify how to judge whether critical services are adequate when designating bases, and study how the 2025 workforce cuts affected remote installations. The department agreed with both recommendations. The Army said it plans to have its risk assessment process in place by April 2027.