All across Washington, some of the most powerful people in the federal government are hosting one another for dinner, comparing their rent prices and fixing leaky pipes — which, in one unfortunate case, recently flooded a cabinet secretary’s basement.
It sounds relatable, except for one detail: These high-ranking officials are not living in Georgetown or Kalorama or the wealthiest enclaves of Northern Virginia, as many did in administrations past. An increasing number of them are living in secure military housing.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth are neighbors, living in a row of stately homes at Fort McNair, a military installation that sits on a peninsula where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers meet. Their homes are usually reserved for high-ranking generals. They live not far from the site where four conspirators of President Abraham Lincoln’s assassination were executed in 1865.
Across the water, at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling, Kristi Noem, the homeland security secretary, lives in a grand home previously designated for a Coast Guard commandant. She is expected to leave her housing by the end of the month, when her tumultuous tenure overseeing the Department of Homeland Security ends. Representatives for Ms. Noem did not respond to a request for comment, but as people familiar with her situation put it: Getting fired breaks the lease.
All told, at least a half-dozen senior Trump administration officials are living in military housing in the Washington area. They include Attorney General Pam Bondi — she is the one currently dealing with a flooded basement — as well as Stephen Miller, President Trump’s deputy chief of staff.
More could join them soon.
At least one more senior official has been advised to move by security officials who assess threats, according to people familiar with the arrangements and who were granted anonymity to discuss matters concerning security. Others, including Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and Russell T. Vought, the White House budget director, have browsed available military housing but have not yet made the move. Representatives for both did not return a request for comment.
The practice of moving public servants onto guarded military bases has no modern precedent. It raises some unsettling questions about the increase in violence against public figures, about the overall health of American democracy and, perhaps most obviously, about who is paying for this.
Several people living in military housing say they pay rent at fair-market value — a rate that ranges from $4,500 to $6,500, depending on the home’s size, according to three people familiar with the arrangements.
Ms. Noem, under fire after ProPublica reported that her department had spent more than $200 million on ad contracts, told a congressional committee this month that she was paying “personal dollars” to stay in the Coast Guard home amid reports that she was living there rent free.
Mr. Hegseth paid $4,655.70 each month last year to live in his home, called Quarters 8, along Generals’ Row at Fort McNair, according to the Pentagon. That home is usually reserved for the Army’s vice chief of staff. A State Department spokesman did not respond to a request for comment about Mr. Rubio’s housing costs.
Patrick F. Kennedy, a former U.S. under secretary of state for management who was responsible for planning, budget and security matters at the State Department, said that moving high-ranking officials onto military bases could be justified given the proliferation of threats and high pressure on law enforcement agencies to keep public officials safe.
“Moving them seems to make some sense if you look at the level of threats and also, I’ll call it, an institutional proclivity for self-defense,” Mr. Kennedy said. “The only people in the U.S. who have compounds are the military.”
He added that it had become increasingly expensive to keep officials safe. The annual budget for the Secret Service has grown to over $3 billion annually, a figure that covers the cost of security details for the president, his family and top administration officials.
Keeping officials safe can also run up costs for local law enforcement agencies. Antony J. Blinken, who served as secretary of state to President Joseph R. Biden Jr., and his family lived with protesters camping outside their home for months as Israel continued its campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The Virginia State Police spent over $300,000 to station patrols outside Mr. Blinken’s home during the summer of 2024, according to a report from NBC Washington.
Two people who currently live in military housing said that they had moved because of a rise in credible threats against them, and that they were heeding the advice of security officials. They also said the killing of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk last year heightened their worry that they could be targeted. The U.S. war against Iran also raises new safety concerns.
They requested anonymity to discuss details of their living arrangements.
In their new neighborhoods, officials are finding a quieter and friendlier world than the one they faced in civilian Washington — a place where it is not uncommon for Trump officials to encounter protesters outside their homes, in restaurants and in other public spaces. In military housing, children can safely play outside. Families gather to watch sports and have dinner. Renters drop off checks at the property manager’s office each month. It is described as a suburban utopia — just on a military base, where everyone who enters needs a badge.
The secure surroundings are appreciated by Mr. Miller and his wife, Katie, who have three children and are expecting another this year. They moved out of their Virginia home last year after a woman protesting the Trump administration began distributing leaflets with their home address.
“There were people who drove by my home, there were people who sent us death threats, who knew where we lived, and it was no longer safe for our children to play in our front yard, or our backyard,” Ms. Miller said on the “Ruthless” podcast in November.
Since moving into military housing, life has improved for the Millers, who cited deep concerns over their safety in court filings.
“I’m incredibly grateful to President Trump and the U.S. military for providing my family a safe place to live,” Ms. Miller, who is a former Trump administration official, said in an interview. Of the military officials Ms. Miller has met since moving, she added, “They’re nothing but the finest men and women we’ve come across.”
Until Mr. Trump took office for the second time, it was rare for civilian government officials to live on military bases or installations.
Robert M. Gates, who served as secretary of defense under President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, asked for government housing because he did not own a home in the Washington area. He moved into an old home near the State Department. Known as Navy Hill and Potomac Annex, the 12-acre site has three residences for admirals. Mr. Gates helped introduce legislation that would authorize the defense secretary to lease military housing at fair-market value — the law that Pentagon officials now cite in reference to Mr. Hegseth’s current rent spending.
Mike Pompeo, who served as secretary of state and C.I.A. director during Mr. Trump’s first term, moved into military housing at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall. In 2018, a Navy lawyer questioned the legality of Mr. Pompeo’s request for military housing. Mr. Pompeo went on to face threats from Iran, most notably after a drone strike that killed a powerful Iranian general, Qassim Suleimani, in early 2020.
In 2025, Mr. Trump revoked Mr. Pompeo’s State Department security detail and the Secret Service detail of John R. Bolton, the president’s former national security adviser, despite continuing threats from Tehran. He has also revoked the security details of Democrats including Kamala Harris, the former vice president and presidential candidate whose detail had been extended under an order from Mr. Biden.
Mr. Trump’s decision to protect some officials and strip security from others comes amid deepening concerns among a majority of Americans that political violence is worsening in the United States.
People familiar with the moves onto military bases say part of the reason for the precaution is because these officials work for a president who has been the target of multiple assassination attempts. Mr. Trump frequently muses, in private and in public, about how close he has come to being killed. His defensive mentality has seeped through the ranks of his White House.
Steven Levitsky, a professor of government at Harvard who studies threats to democracies, said that while increased security is necessary for officials who live in a “big, complicated” country like the United States and face security threats, sending them to military housing delivers a chilling message to the public.
“It is something you never see in a democracy,” he said. “Government officials live on military bases or other sort of fortified zones in authoritarian regimes.”
John Ismay contributed reporting.
Katie Rogers is a White House correspondent for The Times, reporting on President Trump.
The post In Trump’s Administration, Military Housing Is Becoming a Hot Commodity appeared first on New York Times.
