DOD’s Report on Enlisted Aides Fully Addressed Most Statutory Reporting Requirements

DOD’s June 2015 enlisted aide report fully addressed five of the six  statutory reporting requirements contained in section 504 of the Fiscal  Year 2015 NDAA and partially addressed the remaining requirement. DOD’s report addressed requirements related to (1) submitting the report,  (2) listing official military and representational duties that enlisted aides  are authorized to perform, (3) describing procedures for allocating  enlisted aide authorizations between and within the military services and  the Joint Staff, (4) recommending changes to the statutory method of  calculating enlisted aide authorizations, and (5) the objective of reducing  by 40 the maximum number of enlisted aides authorized and allocated,  subject to certain conditions. DOD partially addressed the requirement to  justify enlisted aide authorizations and assignments on a billet-by-billet  basis. DOD’s Report Methodologies Are Consistent with Relevant Statute, but Some Are Not Consistent with All DOD Guidance

DOD’s methodology for identifying enlisted aide duties in its report to  Congress is consistent with guidance, and its methodology for allocating  enlisted aides is consistent with relevant statute. However, DOD’s  methodologies for allocating and justifying enlisted aides are not  consistent with all DOD guidance. DOD’s Stated Methodology for Allocating Enlisted Aides Is Consistent with the Relevant Statute, but It Is Not Based on Personnel Requirements, and DOD Has Not Reallocated Aides Since 2010

DOD describes in its report a methodology for allocating enlisted aide  authorizations across the military services and the Joint Staff that is  consistent with relevant statute, but we found that DOD’s methodology is  not based on personnel requirements. § 981, which limits enlisted aide numbers. As previously  noted, DOD’s stated methodology for allocating enlisted aides is to satisfy  Joint Staff needs and then distribute the authorizations remaining under  the statutory cap of 300 aides on a “fair share” percentage basis  according to the formula in 10 U.S.C. OUSD P&R officials told us that they  have not reallocated enlisted aide authorizations since 2010 because  they were revising their primary enlisted aide instruction and because  they anticipated changes to the statutory formula for determining  maximum enlisted aide authorizations. A 4-star general assigned to the Joint Staff hosts 150-200  qualifying representational events per year and is assigned one  enlisted aide, while an Army 3-star general hosts 3 qualifying  representational events per year but is also assigned one enlisted  aide. Without additional guidance on how to determine enlisted aide workload  in relation to factors such as housing and GFO official representational  duties, military service and Joint Staff decisions regarding enlisted aide  authorizations and assignments may not be consistent and transparent. Certain Data DOD Used to Reach Conclusions in Its Enlisted Aides Report Were Not Reliable

DOD used data—including justifications for the authorization and  assignment of enlisted aides—to reach its conclusions regarding enlisted  aide reductions and a statutory cap on enlisted aide authorizations, but  our review determined that certain data were inaccurate or incomplete  and, therefore, not reliable. Several justifications did not align with the number of enlisted  aides authorized or assigned to a GFO billet, or authorization and  assignment justifications conflicted. Our review found that some of the justification data presented in DOD’s  June 2015 report were inaccurate because the Army, the Navy, and the  Joint Staff did not maintain historical data on enlisted aides and,  therefore, as noted above, could not produce data regarding their  authorizations, assignments, and justifications as of September 30, 2014,  as required by section 504 of the Fiscal Year 2015 NDAA. As noted in our  report, DOD’s June 2015 enlisted aides report partially addressed the  requirement to include billet-by-billet justifications for enlisted aide  authorizations and assignments as of September 30, 2014, but these  justifications were based on the department’s existing allocation and did  not constitute an assessment of total DOD-wide enlisted aide  requirements. DOD concurred, with comment, on our third recommendation, that it  establish criteria for determining enlisted aide workload and include these  criteria in relevant enlisted aide guidance. As a  result, justifications for enlisted aide authorizations vary and are  subjective, and it is unclear how duties and workload support enlisted  aide assignments. We continue to  maintain that, without establishing a process to assess the reliability of  enlisted aide data submitted by the military services and the Joint Staff,  DOD does not have reasonable assurance that the data it used to  determine enlisted aide reductions were accurate, and Congress and  senior DOD leaders may not have reliable data in future enlisted aide  reports on which to base decisions on enlisted aides.
Why GAO Did This Study

Enlisted aides assist general and flag officers with tasks, such as uniform care, that might otherwise interfere with accomplishing their official duties. Section 504 of the fiscal year 2015 NDAA required DOD to submit to Congress a report specifying enlisted aide duties and allocation procedures; justifying aide authorizations and assignments; recommending changes to the statutory method of calculating aide authorizations; and reducing the overall number of enlisted aides by 40.
The fiscal year 2015 NDAA also included a provision for GAO to review DOD's report. This report examines the extent to which (1) DOD's report on enlisted aides addressed statutory reporting requirements; (2) DOD's methodologies for identifying enlisted aide duties, allocating enlisted aides, and justifying their necessity are consistent with relevant statutes and DOD guidance; and (3) DOD used reliable data to support its report conclusions. GAO assessed DOD's June 2015 report against statutory requirements, compared methodologies against statute and DOD guidance, analyzed fiscal years 2014 and 2015 data on aide numbers, and interviewed DOD officials.

What GAO Found

The Department of Defense's (DOD) June 2015 report on enlisted aides fully addressed five of the six statutory reporting requirements contained in section 504 of the Carl Levin and Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2015 and partially addressed the remaining requirement. DOD's report addressed, among other things, the requirement to describe procedures for allocating enlisted aide authorizations, and the objective to reduce by 40 the maximum number of enlisted aides authorized and allocated. GAO determined that DOD partially addressed the requirement to justify enlisted aide authorizations on a billet-by-billet basis because DOD did not provide an explanation for each individual enlisted aide, and because some data were not from September 30, 2014, as was required.
DOD's methodology for identifying enlisted aide duties is consistent with guidance, and its methodology for allocating enlisted aides is consistent with relevant statute. However, DOD's methodologies for allocating and justifying aides are not consistent with all DOD guidance. DOD's stated methodology for allocating enlisted aide authorizations is consistent with the authorization formula and cap in 10 U.S.C. § 981 by first satisfying Joint Staff needs and then allocating the remaining authorizations among the military services according to a “fair share” percentage basis. However, this methodology is not based on validated personnel requirements, as DOD guidance requires, and DOD has not applied it to reallocate enlisted aide authorizations since 2010, resulting in a disproportionate distribution of authorizations. DOD officials stated that they have not assessed DOD-wide requirements in part due to the limited timeframe for developing DOD's report, and that they have not reallocated authorizations since 2010 because they were rewriting their enlisted aide guidance and anticipated changes to the statutory formula for determining enlisted aide authorizations. Without periodically assessing enlisted aide requirements and updating allocations, DOD cannot reasonably ensure that these resources are properly matched to its changing needs. In addition, the justifications included in DOD's report vary and are subjective, and it is unclear how duties and workload support enlisted aide assignments. For instance, a 4-star Joint Staff general hosts 150-200 official representational events per year and is assigned one enlisted aide, while a 3-star Army general hosts 3 events per year but is also assigned one aide. Without additional guidance to determine enlisted aide workload, military service and Joint Staff decisions regarding authorizations and assignments may not be consistent and transparent.
Certain data DOD used in its report were inaccurate or incomplete and therefore not reliable. For example, justification data from the Army, the Navy, and the Joint Staff did not reflect enlisted aide authorizations and assignments as of September 30, 2014, as was required. Also, several justifications did not align with the number of aides authorized or assigned to a general or flag officer billet. DOD officials stated they had no reason to doubt military service and Joint Staff data, but without a process for assessing reliability DOD does not have reasonable assurance that data it used to determine enlisted aide reductions were accurate, and Congress and senior DOD leaders may not have reliable data in future enlisted aide reports on which to base decisions on enlisted aides.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that DOD assess DOD-wide enlisted aide requirements, reallocate enlisted aide authorizations, establish criteria for determining enlisted aide workload, and establish a process for assessing the reliability of data in future enlisted aide reports. DOD concurred, but raised some concerns. GAO addresses these concerns in this report.