[11] Today the 578 acres (2 km2) facility provides an excellent training environment with waterborne approaches from both the Pacific Ocean and San Diego Bay sides.

[19] The city-like layout of the base also provides a realistic site for critical urban warfare training.

[22] This faced opposition during public hearings by environmentalist, due to possible impact upon the California least tern, San Diego fairy shrimp,[23] and to a lesser extent the Western snowy plover.

[4] A ten-year-long, 818-page environmental impact statement was released relating to this proposed increased activity,[24] it was created with the assistance of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

[26] In an unrelated proposal, the base's water area will be used for training by the Littoral Combat Ships for antisubmarine warfare;[27] the Navy has filed its impact upon wildlife with NOAA as it relates to the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

[34] It had been previously used by the Navy as an instruction of SEALs, and had the designation of "Building 99";[35] it would have been eligible to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

[30] In August 2016, members of the Kumeyaay nation protested the construction due to concerns about disturbing buried ancestors.

[37] In April 2018, Representative Susan Davis raised concern of sewage spillage from the Tijuana River would have on SEAL training at the complex.