AFGHANISTAN — Workers mix and move concrete to lay the perimeter wall foundation at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District-South's  Miramor district police headquarters construction project in Daykundi province, Sept. 1, 2011. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Karla K. Marshall)
Building Strong in Afghanistan
AFGHANISTAN — Workers mix and move concrete to lay the perimeter wall foundation at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Afghanistan Engineer District-South's Miramor district police headquarters construction project in Daykundi province, Sept. 1, 2011. (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers photo by Karla K. Marshall)
New year, new site graphic
New year, new look
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently launched a newly designed and updated headquarters website on a new, cloud-based system. The system allows the Corps to create a consistent look and feel on its many web pages, streamline content management to make it easier to keep web pages current, and to deliver a richer end-user experience that makes use of audio, video and other web elements.

In the Spotlight...

THE PENTAGON: Under the pressure of war, the Corps built the Pentagon in 16 months

Pentagon constructionConstruction commenced on Sept. 1, 1941, and continued rapidly during the winter of 1941-42. Architects for the project had little or no lead time; sometimes construction actually outpaced planning. On Dec. 1, 1941, when the president signed legislation transferring the military construction mission from the Quartermaster Corps to the Army Corps of Engineers, 4,000 men were laboring on the building in three shifts. The basic shell and roof were finished in one year, and the building was completed by Jan. 15, 1943. More on the Corps' history.

Myth v. Fact

MYTH: USACE is responsible for all of the nation's levees.

FACT: USACE has specific authorities for approximately 2,000 levees, or 14,000 miles nationwide. There is still a large universe of private and other non-USACE levees that have not been inventoried or inspected. The National Committee on Levee Safety (NCLS) has estimated that there may be more than 100,000 miles of levees nationwide, many of which have not been inspected or inventoried. The precise size of this ‘universe of levees’, where the levees are located, their condition, or the consequences of poor performance is currently unknown.

Find out more about the USACE Levee Program.

Videos

Image Not FoundUSACE 2011Story on how 2011 has been a year of taking care of people for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Image Not FoundUSACE Research Saving LivesWorking to protect warfighters in harm's way with the Modular Protective Systems.