Report questions costs of mansions for the military's top brass

http://fayobserver.com/articles/2013/07/22/1271071?sac=fo.military

Report questions costs of mansions for the military's top brass
By David S. Cloud
Tribune Washington Bureau
Published: 12:00 AM, Mon Jul 22, 2013

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Marine Gen. John F. Kelly works in a fortress-like headquarters near the Miami airport. Starting this fall, he will live in Casa Sur, an elegant home with a pool and gardens on one of the area's swankiest streets.

The five-bedroom residence, across the street from the famed Biltmore Golf Course, is provided rent free to Kelly as head of U.S. Southern Command, which oversees military operations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

The cost to the government? $160,000 a year, plus $402,000 for renovations and security improvements now underway.

Casa Sur is one of hundreds of high-end homes, villas and mansions where senior generals and admirals are billeted, according to a Pentagon report prepared for Congress last month but not publicly released.