Each year, a significant number of the highly skilled personnel exiting the military in Charleston choose to stay in the area. In fact, as of July 2005, there were more than 18,000 military retirees living in the Charleston region.

• The U.S. Navy has reemerged as the largest employer in the region, with over 11,000 employees - including both military and civilian workers.
• SPAWAR Systems Center Charleston is the Navy's principal C41 Acquisition Engineering & Integration Center on the East Coast. The operation provides each of the essential functions of C4ISR, and works with a myriad of systems including sensors, video teleconferencing, image processing, air traffic control, navigation, computer security, briefing systems, and multifaceted communication pipelines.
  
  
  • SPAWAR directly employs 1,500+ active military and civilian employees, including more than 600 degreed engineers.
  • The local economic impact of government and contractor employees associated with SPAWAR is $400 million each year.
  • Housed in a state-of-the-art facility with over one million square feet of office, laboratory and warehouse space, the center operates as a break-even business, outsourcing roughly 80% of its work (nearly $390 million was outsourced in 2005).
  • The work associated with SPAWAR is helping to drive a growing base of companies involved in sophisticated electronics, software and computer systems.
• In addition to housing SPAWAR, the region's U.S. Naval Weapons Station includes two state-of-the-art naval nuclear power training commands and the only waver-free naval weapons storage facility in the continental United States.
• The U.S. Air Force also has a presence in the region, with the largest C-17 air base on the East Coast. The base also provides a large part of Air Mobility Command's Global Reach airlift capability. The Charleston Air Force Base employs just over 6,000 active duty and civilian employees.
• The U.S. Army's 841st Transportation Battalion, which serves to expedite the movement of military cargo. The 841st Battalion is the busiest military terminal battalion in the U.S. Army, handling more than one quarter of all sealift cargo for the war with Iraq.
• The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers is involved in numerous water resource, environmental and military projects. The Corps employs 160 civilian and military personnel.

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

The U.S. Coast Guard Sector Charleston is a multi-mission unit providing a number of key services, including maritime homeland security, search and rescue, law enforcement, marine environmental response, and port and waterway safety. The Coast Guard employs nearly 800 active duty, civilian and reserve employees.

The Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) provides training for agents from 81 Federal law enforcement agencies. The U.S. Coast Guard has co-located its own maritime law enforcement academy on the same campus, with plans to train about 2,000 students per year.

U.S. Department of State

The U.S. Department of State operates the Financial Services Center Charleston, which locally employs approximately 600 civilians and contractors. The center disburses about $3.3 billion a year in payroll to U.S. citizen Foreign Service employees, foreign nationals and retired Foreign Service officers. One of the nation's two Federal passport processing offices is also located in the region, locally employing about 200.

U.S. Department of Justice

The Charleston region is also home to the National Law Enforcement & Corrections Technology Center - Southeast, which operates under the U.S. Department of Justice. The Center provides technical advice and assistance to all law enforcement and corrections facilities within the 15-state Southeast Region.