Military Readiness: Improved Assessment Measures Are Evolving

GAO discussed the Department of Defense's (DOD) ability to provide a comprehensive assessment of overall military readiness, focusing on whether readiness indicators: (1) reflect the components that contribute to overall military readiness; and (2) can predict changes in military readiness. GAO noted that: (1) although DOD indicators for measuring readiness provide limited, though valuable, information, they were never intended to provide the comprehensive assessment of readiness that has become necessary; (2) the military commands independently monitor many additional indicators, which allow for a more comprehensive readiness assessment and the ability to make predictions; (3) although DOD has begun to incorporate some of these additional indicators into its readiness monitoring system, there are insufficient data to analyze trends at this time; and (4) although DOD has new initiatives underway to improve readiness assessments, there is no focal point within DOD that oversees these initiatives.