Military Education

The Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of 1986 seeks to strengthen combined and joint operations of the various military services. In fulfilling this objective, the House Armed Services Committee established the Panel on Military Education in 1987 to report its findings and recommendations about DOD's ability to develop joint specialty officers through its professional military education programs. This report discusses Phase II professional military education programs taught at the Joint and Combined Staff Officer School in Norfolk, Virginia. It continues the series of GAO reports on actions taken by DOD to improve its officer education at the service and joint schools.

GAO found that: (1) of the 37 recommendations pertaining to the College, the College has implemented 22 recommendations, partially implemented 13 recommendations, and did not implement 2 recommendations; (2) in June 1990, the College established the recommended Phase II curriculum; (3) since the College's evaluation standards do not include letter grades, it has only partially implemented the grading recommendation; (4) of the 13 partially implemented recommendations, 10 cover areas that are not fully within the College's control, including interservice representation in the faculty and in the student body and faculty promotion potential as an incentive to teach at the College; (5) the Commandant of the College has no plans to change the grading policy, since letter grades tend to foster competition by measuring students against one another, thereby discouraging problem solving through teamwork and consensus building; (6) the College has not adopted the recommendation concerning a student exchange program with other schools; and (7) the College decided not to establish a distinguished graduate program, stating that it would be difficult to implement, given the varied ranks and knowledge and experience levels of officers attending the school.