As the future of U.S. Army leases of state land remains unclear, Hawai‘i's military affairs office warns that a reduction of military presence in the state could cost billions of dollars.
The Military and Community Relations Office — a state office that bridges the U.S. Department of Defense with Hawai‘i — released on Wednesday its inaugural Economic Impact Factbook, a document summarizing the military’s financial effects on the state.
The document includes the results of a survey of public sentiments surrounding the military — 62% of respondents “feel positively” about military presence in the state, according to the results and more detailed breakdowns of where military dollars are spent.
MACRO Executive Director Laurie Moore said nearly one out of 10 dollars circulating in Hawai‘i is tied to defense spending in some capacity. In total, she said about $17.4 billion is brought to the state annually either directly or through downstream impacts such as military employees spending their paychecks at local businesses.
Should military presence be downsized in the state, much of those funds would be lost. The Factbook projects a $1.7 billion hit to the state GDP if there was a 10% reduction to the military workforce; a 25% reduction would decrease the state GDP by $4.4 billion and eliminate 22,893 jobs.
“These figures aren’t meant to be alarming,” Moore said. “This is just meant to be informative, and any discussion around land use modernization or future planning really needs to be grounded in a clear understanding of scale.”
Other highlights of the Factbook indicate that payroll makes up more than 50% of all military spending in the state, about $5.9 billion. Various DOD contracts and subcontracts make up another $3.2 billion, and DOD grants another $1.1 billion.
In 2023, the single largest DOD contract in the state was the $464 million awarded to the dry dock construction at Pearl Harbor, a joint venture between contractors Flatiron Dragados, Hawaiian Dredging Construction Co. and Orion Government Services.
The document also points out a $10 million grant to the state via DOD’s Readiness and Environmental Protection Challenge, a program that preserves lands as buffer zones around military facilities.
Moore conceded that the military has room to improve: the public sentiment survey indicated that only about one-third of state residents believe the military is doing a good job of protecting natural resources, something that has been a frequent criticism of military facilities on state land such as the Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island.
Because of this, Moore said MACRO intends to increase public outreach. Throughout 2026, she said, there will be multiple community meetings beginning in March where residents will be able to provide feedback regarding military activities. Dates for those open house events have not yet been determined.
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