Expert's View:
The Changing Role of the
United States Army Corps of Engineers

An interview with Lt. General Clark A. Strock, P.E., Chief of Engineers and Commanding General for the USACE


Historically, few branches of the United States military services have been as closely entwined with the civilian public as the Army is through the Corps of Engineers (USACE). In March, Lieutenant General Carl A. Strock, P.E., Chief of Engineers and Commanding General for the USACE, spoke with PBS&J about the role and priorities of his organization today.

The USACE has long played a vital role for our military and in the infrastructure of this nation. How is the role of the USACE changing?

Will Base Relocation and Closure activities impact the mission and present direction of the USACE?

What impact has the Global War on Terror had on the USACE, specifically in terms of budgets and priorities?

How important are projects like the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program and the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration to the nation?

How is the USACE playing a leadership role in watershed and water resource issues?

Do you have any personal goals for the USACE?

The USACE has long played a vital role for our military and in the infrastructure of this nation. How is the role of the USACE changing?

Over the years, our civil works mission has certainly evolved and will continue to do so. Early on we focused on inland and deep draft navigation to support the expansion of the nation. The mission grew to encompass flood control, disaster response, hydropower generation, water supply, environmental stewardship, coastal protection, and recreation. I think those missions will continue to be important parts of our program, but the relative levels of investment might shift over time.  For example, our environmental mission has grown to the point that it now receives about 20 percent of our funding, largely due to our focus on watersheds and aquatic ecosystems with increased emphasis on environmental restoration.

Another area we might be more active in is the national role in water supply—both in quantity and quality. This is traditionally a local and state area of responsibility, but with increasing demands on a finite resource, the issue will likely rise to national importance and could bring in a number of federal agencies, to include the Corps.


Will Base Relocation and Closure activities impact the mission and present direction of the USACE?

We are actively seeking joint basing solutions and looking at the global presence of U.S. armed forces, which would clearly have implications on how facilities are planned, constructed, operated, and maintained and will undoubtedly result in some geographic shifts that will require acquisition and disposal of infrastructure.

This all suggests several things. First, we must improve our master planning capabilities and systems to lead to faster and better decision making. Second, we must improve project delivery times in a way that does not jeopardize quality or increase cost. As part of this effort, I expect more reliance on standard designs adapted to local conditions and a review of construction standards. Third, there will clearly be a requirement to rapidly and accurately identify and then remediate environmental hazards as we turn facilities over. Last, we will continue to explore opportunities for public-private ventures like enhanced-use leasing and privatization of family housing.

To position ourselves for these challenges, we will continue to rely on the A-E and construction industries both for innovative approaches and as our “surge engine” for planning and execution.


What impact has the Global War on Terror had on the USACE, specifically in terms of budgets and priorities?

Without question, support of the Global War on Terror is our number one priority. Before I go further, let me underscore that it doesn’t mean we will walk away from our other mission areas. We have many commitments that must continue to be met and our traditional mission areas also contribute to our national defense, our economic prosperity, and the quality of our environment—all of which are elements that help us fight and win this global war. Overseas, our most visible contributions relate to the restoration and improvement of infrastructure in Iraq and Afghanistan. This work is absolutely vital because it gives hope to the people of those countries, and it contributes to a more stable security environment. Back home, our laboratories continue to develop technologies that reduce our vulnerability to attack and enable us to more effectively respond if attacked. And within our own mission areas, we conducted assessments of all our infrastructure and are currently taking steps to reduce exposure to attack and disruption of water-related systems. Finally, we improved on our long-standing disaster response mission in support of FEMA as that agency became part of the Department of Homeland Security.

Where the budget is concerned, we have seen our civil works budget remain fairly stable at around $4.5 billion, and our military budget has grown from about $9 billion to $18 billion. We have accomplished the expansion of our mission without increasing our workforce because we rely on industry and
the private sector.


How important are projects like the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Program and the Louisiana Coastal Area Ecosystem Restoration to the nation?

They are clearly vital projects. Looking at ecosystems like the Louisiana coastal area, which drains 41 percent of the lower 48 landmasses, you realize that it’s not just about the coast of Louisiana—it is really a manifestation of land and water management policies and practices throughout the United States. The same is true of the Everglades. While the Everglades are basically an enclosed system in the state of Florida, the system rises to national importance based on the importance of that ecosystem.


How is the USACE playing a leadership role in watershed and water resource issues?

The first goal of our strategic plan is to focus on sustainable development. We’re going to understand the environmental impacts of what we do and be sure that it is environmentally sustainable. That’s going to mean an integrated management of water resources, and while the Corps doesn’t need to be the lead in all of these discussions, we feel that we need to be at the table. It clearly has to be an interagency effort—not only between federal, state, tribal, and local levels of government, but also interagency within those levels. I think our contributions to understanding how aquatic ecosystems function and how we can better manage those in a sustainable way are going to have a big impact.


Do you have any personal goals for the USACE?

Doing our work better, faster, cheaper—addressing the issues of costs, times, and quality—have always been our goals at the Corps. The faster part is particularly important to us now. We want to increase the speed of delivery, but without sacrificing quality. So, a particular emphasis of ours is more responsive project delivery. I’d also add safety to that, because the Corps has a very strong safety ethic. It’s about the safety of our people, the safety of the contractors that work for us, and the safety of the public that relies on us for the products we put on the street. And the final one that I’ve added is “greener”, meaning that we have to come up with solutions that are environmentally sustainable.