Defense Budget

The Defense Department's (DOD) budget request for fiscal year 1997 includes $89.2 billion for operation and maintenance accounts--about 37 percent of the military's budget request for that year. Because these funds represent the largest share of DOD's budget, this report (1) determines how annual funding relates to military and civilian personnel levels through fiscal year 2001, (2) identifies overall trends from fiscal years 1985 to 2001, and (3) identifies key drivers--areas in which most money has been budgeted--through fiscal year 2001. GAO highlights significant information that Congress can use to focus future budget deliberations. Throughout the report, GAO raises questions about reported trends in operation and maintenance. GAO also explains the reasons for major changes in funding because of migrations of funds between operations and maintenance programs and activities.

GAO found that: (1) total DOD O&M funds, in constant FY 1997 dollars, are projected to decline at a slower rate than either civilian or military personnel levels between fiscal years 1985 and 2001; (2) however, beginning in FY 2000, projections show that O&M funds begin to rise at the same time civilian personnel decline and military personnel remain relative stable; (3) increases in other O&M-funded programs will more than offset the decline in O&M-funded civilian salaries; (4) since 1993, approximately 85 percent of the funds are concentrated in five budget accounts; (5) another data view shows that three major defense programs receive the majority of annual O&M funds; (6) between fiscal years 1993 and 2001, about 50 percent of annual O&M funds are found in five of DOD's mission categories; (7) in total, there are about 30 mission categories during the FY 1993-2001 time period; (8) from an organizational perspective, the military services' portion of total annual O&M funds declines; (9) beginning in FY 1998, the Army is projected to receive a smaller proportion of annual O&M funds than either of the other two services or the combined DOD agencies; (10) even though the Army will receive the smallest portion of annual O&M funds, this service will have the second largest active military force and the largest civilian workforce; (11) the Navy-Marine Corps' share of annual O&M funds declined by almost 10 percent prior to FY 1996; (12) in contrast, the Air Force's proportion of annual O&M funds changes the least of the three services, while Air Force military and civilian personnel levels fall significantly over the FY 1985-2001 time period; (13) only the combined DOD agencies' share of annual O&M funds increases between fiscal years 1985 and 2001 because of the health program funding consolidation into a Defensewide account; (14) regardless of how the O&M budget is analyzed, medical is the only area where consistent growth occurred; (15) O&M funds for medical activities increase by 72.8 percent from fiscal years 1985 through 2001; (16) the majority of these costs are for the health care needs of DOD's 8.3 million eligible beneficiaries; (17) during fiscal years 1985 through 2001, O&M infrastructure funds that can be clearly identified in the Future Years Defense Program decline by 22.6 percent and thus mirror total O&M trends; (18) despite increases, O&M continues to fund about half of DOD's clearly identifiable infrastructure costs; and (19) thus, if DOD is to identify significant savings from infrastructure to fund modernization, it must look to the O&M appropriations.