Heinrich Celebrates New Major National Security Facility at Kirtland Air Force Base
Through the NDAA and Appropriations process, Heinrich secured $46.6 million to construct state-of-the-art Defense Threat Reduction Agency facility in Albuquerque
ALBUQUERQUE – U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Subcommittee, applauded today’s ribbon cutting ceremony for the new Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) facility at Kirtland Air Force Base (AFB) in Albuquerque, N.M.
“Delivering for our service members and cementing New Mexico’s role as a leader in national security is a responsibility I take very seriously. Through my previous positions on the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, and now on the Senate Appropriations Committee and Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee, I have made modernizing our defense capabilities at New Mexico’s military installations, research labs, and testing ranges a top priority," said Heinrich. "That includes securing $46.6 million in the Fiscal Year 2021 Military Construction Appropriations Bill to construct this state-of-the-art building that will help us retire deteriorating facilities at Kirtland and allow the Air Force to relocate Defense Threat Reduction Agency personnel currently based at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida to New Mexico. This will make Kirtland home to DTRA’s largest workforce outside of the National Capital Region and further solidify New Mexico’s military installations—including Kirtland and the White Sands Missile Range—as critical partners in DTRA’s mission to counter weapons of mass destruction, ensure nuclear deterrence, and combat terrorism.”
Background:
In 2020, as a then-member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Heinrich helped to authorize more than $46 million in military construction funding in the Fiscal Year 2021 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for a new administrative building for the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) at Kirtland AFB. Heinrich then secured $46.6 million in the Fiscal Year 2021 Military Construction Appropriations Bill to construct the facility.
The new 76,000-square-foot DTRA facility at Kirtland AFB will be home to more than 300 U.S. military personnel and Department of Defense civilians and includes unclassified and classified work spaces and meeting rooms, administrative offices, and a seismic laboratory. Expected to be fully operational in the second half of 2024, the building will enable consolidation of DTRA s Weapons & Capabilities Division that is composed of members in Albuquerque and DTRA members currently based at Eglin Air Force Base near Destin, Florida. That move will bring team members of one of DTRA’s specialized research and development offices together under one roof.
DTRA’s economic footprint in New Mexico, centered in the Albuquerque area, is estimated to be more than $100 million annually. In addition to more than 300 civil servants and uniformed service members that live nearby, DTRA executes more than $50 million in government contracts every year, conducts counter-Weapons of Mass Destruction research efforts, and is home to the Department’s Defense Nuclear Weapons School, which has been training America’s nuclear forces since 1947.
Including the recently passed Fiscal Year 2024 Military Construction projects, Heinrich has secured a total of more than $1.5 billion for military construction projects at defense installations in New Mexico over the course of his career in Congress. That includes $268.2 million in military construction funding for Kirtland AFB.
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