Defense Plans

Status of DOD's Efforts to Improve Its Joint Warfighting Requirements Process Gao ID: GAO-02-100R November 9, 2001

Because the military's weapon systems, particularly communication systems, have not been sufficiently interoperable, the services have experienced difficulty in operations ranging from the Gulf War to Kosovo. In Joint Vision 2020, a strategic statement on the transformation efforts of U.S. military forces, the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff recognizes that a joint force is essential to operational success and envisions an interoperable joint force with technologically advanced warfighting capabilities able to dominate any adversary by 2020. This vision also emphasizes the importance of experimenting with new joint warfighting concepts. The Joint Requirements Oversight Council plays a key role in advancing the joint warfighting capabilities of U.S. forces in support of Joint Vision 2020. The Council oversees the joint requirements process by assessing and approving the services' joint requirements and deficiencies. The Council also reviews and approves plans for correcting those deficiencies. Finally, the Council ensures interoperability and that the services have linked their capabilities to Joint Vision 2020. The Chairman of the Joint Requirements Oversight Council and others have identified and begun to address several weaknesses. Because these efforts are in the early stages, it is too soon to assess whether they have improved the Council's oversight and the joint requirements process.



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