Overview

• Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unveiled the department-level group during a Tuesday address to new recruits at Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia.
• The task force is ordered to produce a department-wide barracks investment plan within 30 days.
• Initial funding comes from the One Big Beautiful Bill signed this summer, which Hegseth said provides more than $1 billion for troop housing.
• Hegseth said unit and local commanders will be empowered to tackle quality-of-life issues, and his office will review and approve the resulting plan.
• Coverage notes earlier Pentagon shifts of about $1 billion from Army barracks to border operations and $200 million toward a border wall project, raising questions about how far the new money will go.