Egypt unveiled its colossal new military and state headquarters, dubbed the “Octagon,” which is both an engineering marvel and a not-so-subtle symbol of President Abdel Fatah al Sisi’s power.
In a Hollywood-style video released on Sunday, Egypt revealed its State Strategic Command Center, a sprawling complex in the desert east of Cairo meant to serve as the new headquarters of the Egyptian Ministry of Defense. The center blows away the competition to become the largest defense headquarters in the world, amounting to over 35 square miles — nearly the size of Lisbon, Portugal. This amounts to about 39 times the size of the entire Pentagon complex.
It is located in Egypt’s “New Capital,” the country’s new administrative center, east of the sprawling Cairo.
Bigger than the Pentagon, by a lot
The video released by the government showed synchronized columns of motorcycles parting to escort Sisi’s motorcade, while being watched over by Apache helicopters, then greeted by soldiers and M1 Abrams tanks. The president showed up at the complex, donned in military dress uniform for the first time in over a decade.
In his inaugural speech at the complex, Sisi set out a grand vision, portraying the complex as the embodiment of a new Egypt.
“I renew before you the pledge that our glorious Egypt will continue, with its uncompromising and unbreakable will, the march of construction and development and laying the foundations of a modern state,” he said.
“The choice of the new capital as the home of this structure was not a coincidence,” Sisi said. “It’s a living embodiment of the foundations of the New Republic.”
The new command center wasn’t just for “running military situations,” he said, also serving as a “key base for the state’s capability to deal with challenges and exceptional circumstances with a comprehensive vision and advanced systems that place the security and stability of the nation above all else.”
The complex consists of ten buildings and 13 zones, each with a specific role. These roles include a coordination center for the MOD, a unified state strategic data center, a closed strategic network control center for administrative matters, an administrative center for the state’s agencies, a national communications control center, centers administering emergencies and field security services, and even a weather forecast center.
Each of the 10 buildings, eight surrounding the two in the center, have eight sides, hence the name.
To support the legions of personnel it will need, the Octagon also contains places of worship, sports clubs, hotels, schools, sports fields, residential areas, malls, hospitals, and more, all guarded by two units of Egypt’s elite Republican Guard.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Egyptian Embassy for comment and further details.
The stress on integrating data, communications, and response time comes from Egypt’s investment in its artificial intelligence-incorporated Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance infrastructure, capabilities it hopes will give it a leg up on its competition in future conflicts.
The United States, Egypt’s foremost ally, used AI as an integral part of military operational planning and live target acquisition for the first time in Operation Epic Fury. The increased effectiveness this enabled was reflected in the conflict’s heavily lopsided casualties.
While the Octagon seems a deliberate upstaging of the U.S., it couldn’t have come about without Egypt’s close alliance with the U.S. Egypt is the second-largest recipient of U.S. foreign military aid, surpassed only by Israel.
The alliance is going stronger than ever, thanks in part to Sisi’s close personal relationship with President Donald Trump. Trump declared last month that he “fell in love” with Sisi.
Trump featured in Sisi’s speech inaugurating the Octagon, with the Egyptian leader hailing his efforts, which “resulted in the Sharm el-Sheikh agreement to end the war in Gaza, and his subsequent success in reaching an agreement to end the war with Iran.”
The Washington Examiner reached out to the State Department and Department of War for comment.
Coup-proofing Egypt
While the structure was recognized as an impressive military and architectural feat, some observers pointed out the odd timing of its construction. The complex was unveiled right after a war where the U.S. and Israel illustrated the vulnerability of centralized command centers, wiping out nearly all of Iran’s senior leadership in the opening minutes. While Egypt is on generally good terms with most states capable of carrying out such an attack, putting every major official and all important infrastructure in a single location is militarily unwise in the modern world.
However, this analysis misses the broader importance of the complex, which Sisi laid out explicitly in his inaugural speech at the location: coup-proofing the country.
The president recalled the turmoil that engulfed Egypt from 2011 to 2014, when a democratic revolution overthrew former dictator Hosni Mubarak, who ruled the country for decades. Political violence overtook the capital in the aftermath as political Islamists, Sisi’s foremost rivals, battled and laid siege to their opponents. Sisi came to power in a coup, overthrowing the Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.
The revolution and turmoil under Morsi showcased the fragility of the government, as Islamists were able to leverage the mass of people in Cairo to lay siege to government offices and instruments of power. By Sisi’s account, he had learned his lesson.
“The state had to leave the capital [Cairo] to ensure that that does not happen again … no one can do this in Egypt again, but they will think of other ways to harm Egypt and that, in turn, requires that we sincerely look out for our country so that God helps us during difficult circumstances,” he said.
“I always recall the events of 2011 because God almighty saved Egypt and there are nations that have gone through similar circumstances in 2011 and are suffering from their fallout until today,” Sisi said.
By relocating all the centers of power miles away from Cairo in the desert, he hopes his government will be effectively immune from revolution or coups. It will also insulate him from popular pushback against unpopular but necessary economic reforms, which have come to define his presidency.
The cost of the Octagon
The SSCC began construction in 2016 and has consistently drawn heavy criticism for its cost, especially relative to its importance. Egypt maintains the largest military in the Middle East and Africa, but hasn’t had reason to use it in decades. Egypt hasn’t fought a war against another power since 1973, and its problems are dominated by economic difficulties, rather than threats from abroad.
The price tag isn’t clear, but estimates range from $60 billion to over $80 billion, a massive total for a country with the economic output of Egypt. Some of the total has come from Egypt’s Gulf allies and China, but it can be assumed much has come from Egypt’s struggling coffers.
With no major wars, the rule of the strongman Sisi has been characterized by attempted neoliberal economic reforms, reforms kept in check by popular rage. Sisi has undertaken the most radical transformation of Egypt’s social contract since Gamal Abdel Nasser’s Arab socialism revolution in 1952, attempting to wean the populace off of expensive subsidies.
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In order to receive lucrative International Monetary Fund loans, Sisi has been forced to implement several rounds of currency devaluation and high interest rate hikes, all of which triggered popular uproar.
The president addressed the people’s hardships in his speech at the Octagon.
“People of Egypt, I am definitely aware of what the Egyptian citizen must endure and I realise that improving his standard of living and reducing his suffering are at the forefront of the state’s priorities and is the primary concern when decisions are made,” he said.
However, Sisi has been doubly criticized for not fully implementing the necessary reforms, always lessening rather than altogether eliminating subsidies to placate the public. His privatization of state-owned enterprises has also fallen short of expectations due to one glaring exception: the military. Instead of privatizing military-owned enterprises, Sisi has actually expanded its control into sectors previously untouched, going beyond infrastructure into commodity industries. The military now has greater control over the economy than ever, a reality capped off with the Octagon megaproject.