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Military Recruiting: DOD and Services Need Better Data to Enhance Visibility over Recruiter Irregularities

GAO-06-846 Published: Aug 08, 2006. Publicly Released: Aug 14, 2006.
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Highlights

The viability of the All Volunteer Force depends, in large measure, on the Department of Defense's (DOD) ability to recruit several hundred thousand individuals each year. Since the involvement of U.S. military forces in Iraq in March 2003, several DOD components have been challenged in meeting their recruiting goals. In fiscal year 2005 alone, three of the eight active and reserve components missed their goals. Some recruiters, reportedly, have resorted to overly aggressive tactics, which can adversely affect DOD's ability to recruit and erode public confidence in the recruiting process. GAO was asked to address the extent to which DOD and the services have visibility over recruiter irregularities; what factors may contribute to recruiter irregularities; and what procedures are in place to address them. GAO performed its work primarily at the service recruiting commands and DOD's Military Entrance Processing Command; examined recruiting policies, regulations, and directives; and analyzed service data on recruiter irregularities.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense To improve DOD's visibility over recruiter irregularities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to establish an oversight framework to assess recruiter irregularities and provide overall guidance to the services.
Closed – Implemented
On December 21, 2006, the Department of Defense issued a memorandum to the Secretaries of the Military Departments which implemented an oversight framework for recruiter irregularities. This memorandum included specific reporting dates, a standardized reporting format, and common terms and definitions to be used by the services when reporting their data to the Office of the Secretary of Defense.
Department of Defense To assist in developing its oversight framework, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to establish criteria and common definitions across the services for maintaining data on allegations of recruiter irregularities.
Closed – Implemented
On December 21, 2006, the Department of Defense issued a memorandum to the Secretaries of the Military Departments that implemented an oversight framework and directed the services to use common terms and definitions when reporting their recruiter irregularities data to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Specifically, the memorandum establishes eight categories for characterizing recruiter irregularities as well as ten types of violation dispositions and provides a definition for each.
Department of Defense To assist in developing its oversight framework, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to establish a reporting requirement across the services to help ensure a full accounting of all allegations and service-identified incidents of recruiter irregularities.
Closed – Implemented
On December 21, 2006, the Department of Defense issued a memorandum to the Secretaries of the Military Departments that implemented an oversight framework and established preliminary reporting requirements. Specifically, the memorandum established set report due dates for 2007 and 2008, the time periods to be included in those reports, and a semiannual reporting requirement for January and July of each year.
Department of Defense To assist in developing its oversight framework, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to direct the services to develop internal systems and processes that better capture and integrate data on allegations and service-identified incidents of recruiter irregularities.
Closed – Implemented
On December 21, 2006, the Department of Defense issued a memorandum to the Secretaries of the Military Departments that established policy and new guidance on the tracking and reporting of recruiter irregularity data and thus an oversight framework. The establishment of this framework required the services to change their internal procedures for capturing data as they are now required to report recruiter irregularities to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness semiannually using common terms and definitions and a standardized report format.
Department of Defense To assist DOD in developing a complete accounting of recruiter irregularities, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to direct the commander of DOD's Military Entrance Processing Command to track and report allegations and service-identified incidents of recruiter irregularities to the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. Such analysis would include irregularities by service and the time during the monthly recruiting cycle when the irregularities occur.
Closed – Not Implemented
The Department of Defense did not concur with this recommendation.

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Topics

Armed forces regulationsData collectionMilitary enlistmentMilitary personnelMilitary policiesMilitary recruitingPerformance managementPersonnel managementStandardsPolicies and proceduresTransparency