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Continental Air Defense: A Dedicated Force Is No Longer Needed

NSIAD-94-76 Published: May 03, 1994. Publicly Released: May 03, 1994.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO assessed the viability of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's recommendations to significantly reduce the continental air defense mission and assign the mission tasks to existing active and reserve general-purpose combat and training forces.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Defense The Secretary of Defense should not approve the Air Force's plan unless it is modified to: (1) eliminate or sharply reduce the dedicated air defense force; and (2) reassign the air defense mission to active and reserve general-purpose and training units.
Closed – Implemented
Although DOD partially concurred with the report, the President's fiscal year 1996 budget reduced the size of the force by half, thus saving about $97.4 million annually.

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Topics

National Defense
Combat readinessDefense budgetsDefense capabilitiesDefense contingency planningDefense cost controlDefense economic analysisDefense operationsInternational relationsMilitary aircraftReductions in force