War Department official who toured JBER dorms says poor housing drains readiness

Dale Marks, assistant secretary of war for energy, installations and environment, told the Association of Defense Communities convention in Tampa, Florida, this week that base housing with black mold, failing plumbing and leaky roofs drains morale, readiness and retention. The War Department's Thursday account of the speech ran a photo from his August 2025 tour of the Polaris Hall dorms at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

"Substandard living conditions are not minor inconveniences," Marks said. "They are an active drain on morale, combat readiness and our retention of top-tier talent."

Air Force Staff Sgt. Lauren Miller, an Airman dorm leader, led Marks through Polaris Hall on Aug. 18, 2025, and talked with him about housing quality for soldiers and airmen, according to the department's caption. JBER's own account of the visit said Marks spoke with airmen, soldiers and civilians about infrastructure and readiness.

The department's account does not say whether Polaris Hall or any other JBER dorm will be repaired under the initiatives Marks described.

Marks used the speech to promote two programs the department started this year. Fortress America, one of six emphases Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced in recent months, rests on five pillars: sovereign energy independence, domestic supply chain resilience, installation hardening and cyber resilience, strategic defense reserves, and space and spectrum resilience.

Its prototype, the Next Great American Base, is designed to run for 30 days cut off from civilian utilities, using microgrids and a small nuclear reactor for power. Marks said the base's systems will be exported to older installations once proven. The department said the base will include a compact, walkable layout with schools, health care and town centers.

In Anchorage, the Assembly in August weighed a resolution backing a JBER buildup of up to 1,050 personnel on a base whose family housing was 98% full, Alaska News reported Aug. 9. Alaska News has also reported that the military is adding people to a base that's already full.

At a Sept. 18 Anchorage Assembly work session, a member cited about $156 million in military construction money for JBER housing. A city administration official said the money was probably meant for dorms or barracks on base.

In June, the Senate Armed Services Committee advanced a fiscal year 2027 defense authorization bill on a bipartisan 18-9 vote. Sen. Dan Sullivan's office said the bill carries 56 provisions he wrote, with $2.6 billion in military construction and project authorizations for Alaska. That includes $2.066 billion for JBER's "Fighter Town USA" rebuild, part of a multiyear $7 billion project.

Federal auditors in a 2023 report documented barracks with sewage overflow, inoperable fire systems and mold at installations nationwide.