Defense Management
Munitions Requirements and Combatant Commanders' Needs Require Linkage Gao ID: GAO-03-17 October 15, 2002The Department of Defense (DOD) planned to spend $7.9 billion on acquiring munitions in fiscal year 2002. Ongoing military operations associated with the global war on terrorism have heightened concerns about the unified combatant commands having sufficient quantities of munitions. Since 1994, the DOD Inspector General and GAO have issued numerous reports identifying weaknesses and expressing concerns about the accuracy of the process used by the department to determine munitions requirements. DOD has improved its munitions requirements process by eliminating most of the systematic problems--correcting questionable and inconsistently applied data, completing target templates, and resolving issues involving the level of detail that should be included in planning guidance. However, a fundamental problem remains unaddressed--inadequate linkage between the near-term munitions needs of the combatant commands and the purchases made by the military services based on computations derived from the department's munitions requirement determination process. The department's munitions requirements process provides varied answers for current munitions acquisitions questions because of the aforementioned disjunction. As a result, the services, in the short term, are purchasing some critically needed munitions based on available funding and contractors' production capacity. Although this approach may be necessary in the short term, it raises questions as to whether over the long term it would position the services to make the most efficient use of appropriated funds and whether the needs of combatant commands to carry out their missions will be met.
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Director: Team: Phone:GAO-03-17, Defense Management: Munitions Requirements and Combatant Commanders' Needs Require Linkage
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Report to the Secretary of Defense:
United States General Accounting Office:
GAO:
October 2002:
DEFENSE MANAGEMENT:
Munitions Requirements and Combatant Commanders‘ Needs Require Linkage:
Defense Management:
GAO-03-17:
Contents:
Letter:
Results in Brief:
Background:
Improvements Made, but Gap Remains between the Combatant Commanders‘
Needs and the Services‘ Purchasing Decisions:
Munitions Requirements Process Provides Varying Answers for Acquisition
Decisions:
Conclusion:
Recommendation for Executive Action:
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology:
Appendix II: Related DOD Inspector General and General Accounting
Office
Reports:
Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense:
[End of section]
United States General Accounting Office:
Washington, DC 20548:
October 15, 2002:
The Honorable Donald H. Rumsfeld
Secretary of Defense:
Dear Mr. Secretary:
The Department of Defense planned to spend about $7.9 billion on
acquiring munitions[Footnote 1] in fiscal year 2002. Ongoing military
operations associated with the global war on terrorism have heightened
concerns about the unified combatant commands[Footnote 2] having
sufficient quantities of munitions. In September and October of 2001,
Congress provided emergency funding of $1.3 billion for munitions, with
a supplemental increase in the fiscal year 2002 munitions budget of
$397 million. Significant funding increases are also planned, which
would bring the fiscal year 2003 munitions budget to over $10 billion.
Since 1994, the Department of Defense Inspector General and GAO have
issued numerous reports identifying weaknesses and expressing concerns
about the accuracy of the process used by the department to determine
munitions requirements. Our April 2001 report discussed steps being
taken by the department to improve the process and additional actions
still needed.[Footnote 3] In response to that report, the department
outlined actions underway that address all aspects of the report‘s
recommendations. The department expected that its efforts to improve
the munitions requirements process should correct over-or understated
requirements and provide the combatant commands with needed munitions.
Notwithstanding the improvements the department said it would make to
the munitions requirements determination process, combatant commands
have continued to report munitions shortages. Accordingly, this review
was undertaken, pursuant to GAO‘s legislative authority, to determine
the extent to which (1) improvements have been made to the Department
of Defense‘s munitions requirements determination process and (2) the
process is being used to guide current munitions acquisitions.
Results in Brief:
The Department of Defense has improved its munitions requirements
process by eliminating most of the systemic problems--for example,
correcting questionable and inconsistently applied data, completing
target templates, and resolving issues involving the level of detail
that should be included in planning guidance. However, a fundamental
problem remains unaddressed--inadequate linkage between the near-term
munitions needs of the combatant commands and the purchases made by the
military services based on computations derived from the department‘s
munitions requirements determination process. This disjunction--
sometimes referred to as a difference between the combatant commanders‘
near-term focus (generally 2 years) and the services‘ longer-term
planning horizon (generally 6 years)--has resulted in the combatant
commands and the services identifying different munitions needs and,
ultimately, in the combatant commanders reporting shortages. However,
we believe there is a more fundamental reason for the disconnect; it
occurs because the department‘s munitions requirements determination
process does not fully consider the combatant commanders‘ preferences
for munitions and weapon systems that will be used against targets
identified in projected scenarios. The department recognizes that a
disjunction exists between needs identified by the combatant commanders
and the services‘ purchasing decisions. On June 18, 2002, the
department contracted for an assessment of its munitions requirements
process with the goal of developing a process that will include
determinations of the near-year and out-year munitions requirements.
The department‘s munitions requirements process provides varied answers
for current munitions acquisitions questions because of the
aforementioned disjunction. As a result, the services, in the short
term, are purchasing some critically needed munitions based on
available funding and contractors‘ production capacity. In one such
case--involving a munition preferred by each of the combatant
commanders--the quantities of munitions shortages identified by both
the services and the combatant commanders differed, exceeding
previously planned acquisition quantities. As a result, the department
entered into an agreement to purchase the maximum quantities that it
could fund the contractor to manufacture at this time. In such cases,
the department could purchase too much or too little, depending upon
the quantities of munitions ultimately needed. While this approach may
be necessary in the short term, it raises questions as to whether over
the long term it would position the services to make the most efficient
use of appropriated funds and whether the needs of combatant commands
to carry out their missions will be met.
Our report recommends that the Secretary of Defense establish a direct
link between the munitions needs of the combatant commands and the
munitions requirements determinations and purchasing decisions made by
the military services. In written comments on a draft of this report,
the department concurred with our recommendation.
Background:
The Department of Defense‘s budget is the product of a complex
process designed to develop an effective defense strategy that supports
U.S. national security objectives. For munitions, the department
generally does not have the combatant commands submit separate budgets,
but relies on the military services‘ budget submissions.[Footnote 4]
Thus, the military services are largely responsible for determining
requirements for the types and quantities of munitions that are bought.
The Department of Defense Inspector General and GAO have issued
numerous reports dating back to 1994 identifying systemic problems--
such as questionable and inconsistently applied data, inconsistent
processes among and between services, and unclear guidance--that have
inflated the services‘ requirements for certain categories of munitions
and understated requirements for other categories. (For a listing of
these reports, see app. II.):
In 1997, as one step toward addressing these concerns, the Department
of Defense issued Instruction 3000.4, which sets forth policies, roles
and responsibilities, time frames, and procedures to guide the services
as they develop their munitions requirements. This instruction is
referred to as the capabilities-based munitions requirements process
and is the responsibility of the Under Secretary of Defense for
Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics. The instruction describes a
multi-phased analytical process that begins when the Under Secretary of
Defense for Policy develops--in consultation with the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military services, and the combatant
commands--policy for the Defense Planning Guidance.[Footnote 5] The
Defense Intelligence Agency uses the Defense Planning Guidance and its
accompanying scenarios, as well as other intelligence information, to
develop a threat assessment. This assessment contains estimates and
facts about the potential threats that the United States and allied
forces could expect to meet in war scenarios. The combatant commanders
(who are responsible for the theaters of war scenarios), in
coordination with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, use the threat assessment
to allocate each service a share of the identified targets by phases of
the war. The services then develop their combat requirements[Footnote
6] using battle simulation models and scenarios to determine the number
and mix of munitions needed to meet the combatant commanders‘ specific
objectives.
Despite the department‘s efforts to standardize the process and
generate consistent requirements, many questions have continued to be
raised about the accuracy or reliability of the munitions requirements
determination process. In April 2001, we reported continuing problems
with the capabilities-based munitions requirements determination
process because the department (1) had yet to complete a database
providing detailed descriptions of the types of targets on large enemy
installations that would likely be encountered, based on warfighting
scenarios; (2) had not set a time frame for completing its munitions
effectiveness database; and (3) was debating whether to include greater
specificity in its warfighting scenarios and to rate the warfighting
scenarios by the probability of their occurrence. These process
components significantly affect the numbers and types of munitions
needed to meet the warfighting combatant command‘s objectives. The
department acknowledged these weaknesses and recognized that inaccurate
requirements can negatively affect munitions planning, programming, and
budget decisions, as well as assessments of the size and composition of
the industrial production base. In responding to our report‘s
recommendations, the department has taken a number of actions to
correct the problems we identified.
Improvements Made, but Gap Remains between the Combatant Commanders‘
Needs and the Services‘ Purchasing Decisions:
Our review of the requirements process and related documentation showed
that the Department of Defense corrected the previously identified
systemic problems in its process for determining munitions
requirements, but the reliability of the process continues to be
uncertain because of the department‘s failure to link the near-term
munitions needs of the combatant commands and the purchases made by the
military services based on computations derived from the department‘s
munitions requirements determination process. Because of differences in
how requirements are determined, asking a question about the quantities
of munitions that are needed can result in one answer from the
combatant commanders and differing answers from the military services.
For this reason, the combatant commands may report shortages of
munitions they need to carry out warfighting scenarios. We believe--and
the department‘s assessment of its munitions requirements process
recognizes--that munitions requirements and purchase decisions made by
the military services should be more closely linked to the needs of the
combatant commanders. The main issue that the department still needs to
address is engaging the combatant commands in the requirements
determination process, budgeting processes, and related purchasing
decisions to minimize the occurrence of reported shortages. Because of
the present gap between the combatant commands‘ munitions needs and
department‘s requirements determination process, which helps shape the
services‘ purchasing decisions, munitions requirements are not
consistently stated, and thus the amount of funding needed to alleviate
possible shortages is not always fully understood.
Steps Taken to Improve the Requirements Determination Process:
In April 2001, we reported that key components of the requirements
determination process either had not been completed or had not been
decided upon.[Footnote 7] At that time, the department had not
completed a database listing detailed target characteristics for large
enemy installations based on warfighting scenarios and had not
developed new munitions effectiveness data to address deficiencies
identified by the services and the combatant commanders. Additionally,
the department had not determined whether to create more detailed
warfighting scenarios in the Defense Planning Guidance or to rate
scenarios in terms of their probability. We concluded that until these
tasks were completed and incorporated into the process, questions would
likely remain regarding the accuracy of the munitions requirements
process as well as the department‘s ability to identify the munitions
most appropriate to defeat potential threats.
In response to our report, the department took actions during fiscal
years 2001 and 2002 to resolve the following three key issues affecting
the reliability of the munitions requirements process:
* List of targets--The department lacked a common picture of the number
and types of targets on large enemy installations as identified in the
warfighting scenarios, and, as a result, each of the services had been
identifying targets on enemy installations differently. To resolve this
issue, the Joint Chiefs instructed the Defense Intelligence Agency, in
coordination with the combatant commanders, to develop target templates
that would provide a common picture of the types of potential targets
on enemy installations. In August 2001, the department revised its
capabilities-based requirements instruction to incorporate the target
templates developed by the Defense Intelligence Agency as the
authoritative threat estimate for developing munitions requirements.
* Munitions effectiveness data--The department was using outdated
information to determine the effectiveness of a munition against a
target and to predict the number of munitions necessary to defeat it.
The department recognized that munitions effectiveness data is a
critical component for requirements planning and that outdated
information could over-or understate munitions requirements. To address
this shortfall, the department updated its joint munitions
effectiveness manual with up-to-date munitions effectiveness data for
use by the services in their battle simulation models.
* Warfighting scenarios--The Defense Planning Guidance contains
warfighting scenarios that detail conditions that may exist during the
conduct of war; these scenarios are developed with input from several
sources, including the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Joint Chiefs of
Staff, and the services. This guidance should provide a common baseline
from which the combatant commands and the services determine their
munitions requirements. However, when the department adopted the
capabilities-based munitions requirements instruction, details were
eliminated in favor of broader guidance. To ensure that the combatant
commanders and the services plan for the most likely warfighting
scenario and do not use unlikely events to support certain munitions,
the department revised the Defense Planning Guidance to provide fewer
warfighting scenarios and more detail on each.
The department expected that these actions to improve the munitions
requirements process would correct over-or understated requirements and
provide the combatant commands with needed munitions. However, despite
the department‘s efforts to enhance the requirements determination
process, one problem area remains--inadequate linkage between the near-
term munitions needs of the combatant commands and the purchases made
by the military services based on computations derived from the
department‘s munitions requirements determination process. Various
actions taken to address this issue have not been successful.
Continuing Limitations in Requirements Determination Process:
The disjunction between the department‘s requirements determination
processes and combatant commanders‘ needs is rooted in separate
assessments done at different times. The services, as part of their
budgeting processes, develop the department‘s munitions requirements
using targets provided by the combatant commands (based on the Defense
Intelligence Agency‘s threat report), battle simulation models, and
scenarios to determine the number and mix of munitions needed to meet
the combatant commanders‘ objectives in each war scenario. To develop
these requirements, the services draw upon and integrate data and
assumptions from the Defense Planning Guidance, warfighting scenarios,
and target allocations, as well as estimates of repair and return rates
for enemy targets and projected assessments of damage to enemy targets
and installations. Other munitions requirements are also determined,
and include munitions needed (1) for forces not committed to support
combat operations, (2) for forward presence and current operations, (3)
to provide a post-theater of war combat capability, and (4) to train
the forces, support service programs, and support peacetime operations.
These requirements, in addition to the combat requirement, comprise the
services‘ total munitions requirement. The total munitions requirement
is then compared to available inventory and appropriated funds to
determine how many of each munition the services will procure within
their specified funding limits and is used to develop the services‘
Program Objectives Memorandum and their budget submissions to the
President.
Periodically the combatant commanders prepare reports of their
readiness status, including the availability of sufficient types and
quantities of munitions needed to meet the combatant commanders‘
warfighting objectives, but these munitions needs are not tied to the
services‘ munitions requirements or to the budgeting process. In
determining readiness, the combatant commanders develop their munitions
needs using their own battle simulation models, scenarios, and targets
and give emphasis to the munitions they prefer to use or need for
unique war scenarios to determine the number and mix of munitions they
require to meet their warfighting objectives. The combatant commanders
calculate their needs in various ways--unconstrained and constrained
and over various time periods (e.g., 30 days and 180 days).
Unconstrained calculations are based on the combatant commanders‘
assessment of munitions needs, assuming that all needed munitions are
available. Constrained calculations represent the combatant
commanders‘ assessment of munitions needs to fight wars under certain
rules of engagement that limit collateral damage and civilian and U.S.
military casualties. Because the combatant commanders‘ battle
simulation models and scenarios differ from those used by the military
services, their munitions needs are different, which can result in
reports of munitions shortages. In contrast, the U.S. Special
Operations Command develops its combat requirements for the number and
mix of munitions needed to meet its warfighting objectives using the
same battle simulation models and scenarios that the services used and
provides these requirements to the services, rather than providing only
potential targets to the services as other commands do. This permits
the U.S. Special Operations Command to more directly influence the
assumptions about specific weapons systems and munitions to be used. As
a result of working together, the Command‘s and the services‘
requirements are the same.[Footnote 8]
In an effort to close the gap between the combatant commanders‘ needs
and the department‘s munitions requirements determination process, a
1999 pilot project was initiated by the department to bridge this gap
by better aligning the combatant commanders‘ near-term objectives
(which generally cover a 2-year period) and the services‘ long-term
planning horizon (which is generally 6 years). Another benefit of the
pilot was that the Joint Chiefs of Staff could validate the
department‘s munitions requirements by matching requirements to target
allocations. However, the Army, the Navy, and a warfighting combatant
commander objected to the pilot‘s results because it allocated
significantly more targets to the Air Force and fewer targets to the
Army. Army officials objected that the pilot‘s methodology did not
adequately address land warfare, which is significantly different from
air warfare.[Footnote 9] The Navy did not concur with the results,
citing the lack of recognition for the advanced capabilities of future
munitions. U.S. Central Command officials disagreed with the results,
stating that a change in methodology should not in and of itself cause
the allocation to shift. In July 2000, citing substantial concerns
about the pilot, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology, and Logistics suspended the target allocation for fiscal
year 2000 and directed the services to use the same allocations applied
to the fiscal year 2002 to the 2007 Program Objectives Memorandum.
In August 2000, the Joint Chiefs of Staff made another attempt to
address the need for better linkage between the department‘s munitions
requirements process and the combatant commanders‘ munitions needs. The
combatant commanders were to prepare a near-term target allocation
using a methodology developed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Each
warfighting combatant commander developed two allocations--one for
strike (air services) forces and one for engagement (land troops)
forces for his area of responsibility. The first allocated specific
targets to strike forces under the assumption that the air services can
eliminate the majority of enemy targets. The second allocation assumed
that less than perfect conditions exist (such as bad weather), which
would limit the air services‘ ability to destroy their assigned targets
and require that the engagement force complete the mission. The
combatant commanders did not assign specific targets to the engagement
forces, but they estimated the size of the expected remaining enemy
land force. The Army and the Marines then were expected to arm
themselves to defeat those enemy forces. The Joint Chiefs of Staff used
the combatant commanders‘ near-year threat distribution and
extrapolated that information to the last year of the Program
Objectives Memorandum for the purpose of the services‘ munitions
requirements planning. The department expected that these modifications
would correct over-or understated requirements and bridge the gap
between the warfighting combatant commanders‘ near-term interests and
objectives and the services‘ longer planning horizon.
However, inadequate linkage remains between the near-term munitions
needs of the combatant commands and the department‘s munitions
requirements determinations and purchases made by the military
services. This is sometimes referred to as a difference between the
combatant commanders‘ near-term focus (generally 2 years) and the
services longer-term planning horizon (generally 6 years). However, we
believe that there is a more fundamental reason for the disconnect; it
occurs because the department‘s munitions requirements determination
process does not fully consider the combatant commanders‘ preferences
for munitions and weapon systems to be used against targets identified
in projected scenarios.
On June 18, 2002, the department contracted with TRW Inc. to assess its
munitions requirements process and develop a process that will include
a determination of the near-year and out-year munitions requirements.
The assessment, which will build upon the capabilities-based munitions
requirements process, is also expected to quantify risk associated with
any quantity differential associated between requirements and inventory
and achieve a balance between inventory, production, and consumption.
A final report on this assessment is due in March 2003.
Munitions Requirements Process Provides Varying Answers for Acquisition
Decisions:
The department‘s munitions requirements process provides varying
answers for current munitions acquisitions because of the inadequate
linkage between the near-term munitions needs of the combatant commands
and the munitions requirements computed by the military services. As a
result, the services are purchasing some critically needed munitions
based on available funding and the contractors‘ production capacity.
For example, in December 2001, both the services and the combatant
commanders identified shortages for joint direct attack munitions (a
munition preferred by each of the combatant commanders). According to
various Department of Defense officials, these amounts differed and
exceeded previously planned acquisition quantities. Therefore, the
department entered into an agreement to purchase the maximum quantities
that it could fund the contractor to manufacture and paid the
contractor to increase its production capacity. In such cases, the
department could purchase too much or too little, depending upon the
quantities of munitions ultimately needed. While this approach may be
needed in the short term, it raises questions whether over the long
term it would position the services to make the most efficient use of
appropriated funds and whether the needs of combatant commands to carry
out their missions will be met.
Conclusion:
Until the department establishes a more direct link between the
combatant commanders‘ needs, the department‘s requirements
determinations, and the services‘ purchasing decisions, the department
will be unable to determine with certainty the quantities and types of
munitions the combatant commanders need to accomplish their
missions. As a result, the amount of munitions funds needed will remain
uncertain, and assessments of the size and composition of the
industrial production base will be negatively affected. Unless this
issue is resolved, the severity of the situation will again be apparent
when munitions funding returns to normal levels and shortages of
munitions are identified by the combatant commands.
Recommendation for Executive Action:
We recommend that the Secretary of Defense establish a direct link
between the munitions needs of the combatant commands--recognizing the
impact of weapons systems and munitions preferred or expected to
be employed--and the munitions requirements determinations and
purchasing decisions made by the military services.
As you know, 31 U.S.C. 720 requires the head of a federal agency to
submit a written statement of the actions taken on our recommendations
to the Senate Committee on Government Affairs and the House Committee
on Government Reform not later than 60 days after the date of this
report. A written statement must also be sent to the House and Senate
Committees on Appropriations with the agency‘s first request for
appropriations made more than 60 days after the date of this report.
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation:
The Director of the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense‘s
Strategic and Tactical Systems provided written comments on a draft of
this report. They are included in appendix III. The Department of
Defense concurred with the recommended linkage of munitions
requirements and combatant commanders‘ needs. The Director stated that
the department, through a munitions requirements study directed by
the fiscal year 2004 Defense Planning Guidance, has identified this
link as a problem and has established a solution that will be
documented in the next update of Instruction 3000.4 in fiscal year
2003. The department also provided technical comments, which we
incorporated in the report as appropriate.
We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional
committees and to the Director, Office of Management and Budget. The
report is also available on GAO‘s Web site at http://www.gao.gov. The
scope and methodology of our work is presented in appendix I. If you or
your staff have any questions on the matters discussed in this letter,
please contact me at (202) 512-4300. Key contributors to this letter
were Ron Berteotti, Roger Tomlinson, Tommy Baril, and Nelsie Alcoser.
Sincerely yours,
Barry W. Holman
Director, Defense Capabilities and Management:
Signed by Barry W. Holman:
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology:
To determine the extent to which improvements had been made to the
Department of Defense‘s requirements determination process, we reviewed
the Department‘s Instruction 3000.4, Capabilities-Based Munitions
Requirements (to ascertain roles and oversight responsibilities and to
identify required inputs into the process); 17 Department of Defense
Inspector General reports and 4 General Accounting Office reports
relating to the department‘s munitions requirements determination
process (to identify reported weaknesses in the requirements
determination process); and reviewed requirements determinations and
related documentation and interviewed officials (to identify actions
taken to correct weaknesses in the requirements determination process)
from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition,
Technology, and Logistics, Washington, D.C.; Joint Chiefs of Staff
(Operations, Logistics, Force Structure, Resources and Assessment),
Washington, D.C.; and Army, Navy, and Air Force officials responsible
for budgeting, buying, and allocating munitions.
To determine whether the munitions requirements determination process
was being used to guide current munitions acquisitions, we met with the
services‘ headquarters officials (to determine how each service
develops its munitions requirements, to obtain data on the assumptions
and inputs that go into its simulation models, to see how each service
reviews the outcome of its munitions requirement process, and to
determine the basis for recent munitions purchases) and interviewed
officials at U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command,
MacDill Air Force Base, Florida; U.S. Southern Command, Miami, Florida;
U.S. Pacific Command; Headquarters Pacific Air Forces; U.S. Army
Pacific; Marine Forces Pacific; U.S. Pacific Fleet, Oahu, Hawaii; U.S.
Forces Korea; Eighth U.S. Army, Seoul, Korea; and 7th Air Force, Osan,
Korea (to determine whether the munitions needed by the warfighters are
available).
We performed our review from March 2002 through July 2002 in accordance
with generally accepted government auditing standards.
[End of section]
Appendix II: Related DOD Inspector General and
General Accounting Office Reports:
Defense Logistics: Unfinished Actions Limit Reliability of the Munition
Requirements Determination Process. GAO-01-18. Washington, D.C.:
April 2001.
Summary of the DOD Process for Developing Quantitative
Munitions Requirements. Department of Defense Inspector General.
Washington, D.C.: February 24, 2000.
Air Force Munitions Requirements. Department of Defense Inspector
General. Washington, D.C.: September 3, 1999.
Defense Acquisitions: Reduced Threat Not Reflected in Antiarmor Weapon
Acquisitions. GAO/NSIAD-99-105. Washington, D.C.: July 22, 1999.
U.S. Special Operations Command Munitions Requirements. Department of
Defense Inspector General. Washington, D.C.: May 10, 1999.
Marine Corps Quantitative Munitions Requirements Process. Department of
Defense Inspector General. Washington, D.C.: December 10, 1998.
Weapons Acquisitions: Guided Weapon Plans Need to be Reassessed. GAO/
NSIAD-99-32. Washington, D.C.: December 9, 1998.
Navy Quantitative Requirements for Munitions. Department of Defense
Inspector General. Washington, D.C.: December 3, 1998.
Army Quantitative Requirements for Munitions. Department of Defense
Inspector General. Washington, D.C.: June 26, 1998.
Management Oversight of the Capabilities-Based Munitions Requirements
Process. Department of Defense Inspector General. Washington, D.C.:
June 22, 1998.
Threat Distributions for Requirements Planning at U.S. Central Command
and U.S. Forces Korea. Department of Defense Inspector General.
Washington, D.C.: May 20, 1998.
Army‘s and Marine Corps‘ Quantitative Requirements for Blocks I and II
Stinger Missiles. Department of Defense Inspector General. Washington,
D.C.: June 25, 1996.
U.S. Combat Air Power-Reassessing Plans to Modernize Interdiction
Capabilities Could Save Billions. Department of Defense Inspector
General. Washington, D.C.: May 13, 1996.
Summary Report on the Audits of the Anti-Armor Weapon System and
Associated Munitions. Department of Defense Inspector General.
Washington, D.C.: June 29, 1995.
Weapons Acquisition: Precision Guided Munitions in Inventory,
Production, and Development. GAO/NSIAD-95-95. Washington, D.C.:
June 23, 1995.
Acquisition Objectives for Antisubmarine Munitions and Requirements for
Shallow Water Oceanography. Department of Defense Inspector General.
Washington, D.C.: May 15, 1995.
Army‘s Processes for Determining Quantitative Requirements for
Anti-Armor Systems and Munitions. Department of Defense Inspector
General. Washington, D.C.: March 29, 1995.
The Marine Corps‘ Process for Determining Quantitative Requirements for
Anti-Armor Munitions for Ground Forces. Department of Defense Inspector
General. Washington, D.C.: October 24, 1994.
The Navy‘s Process for Determining Quantitative Requirements for Anti-
Armor Munitions. Department of Defense Inspector General. Washington,
D.C.: October 11, 1994.
The Air Force‘s Process for Determining Quantitative Requirements for
Anti-Armor Munitions. Department of Defense Inspector General.
Washington, D.C.: June 17, 1994.
Coordination of Quantitative Requirements for Anti-Armor
Munitions. Department of Defense Inspector General. Washington, D.C.:
June 14, 1994.
[End of section]
Appendix III: Comments from the Department of Defense:
ACQUISITION, TECHNOLOGY AND LOGISTICS:
OFFICE OF THE UNDER SECRETARY OF DEFENSE:
3000 DEFENSE PENTAGON WASHINGTON, DC 20301-3000:
18 SEP 2002:
Mr. Barry W. Holman:
Director, Defense Capabilities and Management United States General
Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548:
Dear Mr. Holman:
This is the Department of Defense (DoD) response to the GAO draft
report, ’DEFENSE MANAGEMENT: Munitions Requirements and Combatant
Commanders‘ Needs Require Linkage,“ dated September 2002 (GAO Code
350150).
The report recommends that the Secretary of Defense establish a direct
link between the munitions needs of the Combatant Commands --
recognizing the impact of weapons systems and munitions preferred or
expected to be employed --and the munitions requirements:
determinations and purchasing decisions made by the Military Services.
The Department concurs with this recommendation and the response is
enclosed. Suggested technical changes for clarification and accuracy
have been provided separately.
The Department appreciates the opportunity to comment on the draft
report.
Glenn F. Lamartin Director:
Strategic and Tactical Systems:
Signed by Glenn F. Lamartin:
Enclosure:
GAO-03-17/GAO CODE 350150:
’DEFENSE MANAGEMENT: MUNITIONS REQUIREMENTS AND COMBATANT COMMANDERS‘
NEEDS REQUIRE LINKAGE“:
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE COMMENTS TO THE RECOMMENDATION:
RECOMMENDATION: The GAO recommended that the Secretary of Defense
establish a direct link between the munitions needs of the Combatant
Commands --recognizing the impact of weapons systems and munitions
preferred or expected to be employed --and the munitions requirements
determinations and purchasing decisions made by the Military Services.
(Page 11/Draft Report):
DoD RESPONSE: Concur. The Department, through the FY04 Defense Planning
Guidance-directed-munitions requirements study, has identified this
link as a problem and has established a solution which will be
documented in the next update of the DoD Instruction 3000.4 in FY03.
[End of Section]
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FOOTNOTES
[1] Munitions include a wide variety of ammunition for small arms,
mortars, cannons, artillery, and guns, as well as bombs, rockets,
missiles, mines, demolition material, grenades, flares, and torpedoes.
The Department of Defense also considers chemicals, nuclear weapons,
and pyrotechnics to be munitions. However, we are not referring to
these categories of munitions in this letter.
[2] Each unified combatant command is composed of forces from two or
more military services, has broad and continuing missions, and is
organized either on a geographical or functional basis. There are
currently nine unified combatant commands.
[3] See U.S. General Accounting Office, Defense Logistics: Unfinished
Actions Limit Reliability of the Munition Requirements Determination
Process, GAO-01-18 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 5, 2001).
[4] The U.S. Special Operations Command has a separate budget for a
portion of its munitions needs. Its munitions budget for fiscal years
2001 and 2002 was about $60 million and $42 million, respectively.
[5] The Secretary of Defense and his staff prepare the Defense Planning
Guidance, issue policy, and articulate strategic objectives that
reflect the national military strategy. The Defense Planning Guidance
includes the Secretary‘s force and resource guidance to the military
departments, other combat support agencies, and the unified combatant
commands.
[6] These quantities include weapons-based load expenditures (a
fighting load of munitions appropriate for engaging the enemy),
resupply, and logistics add-ons due to environmental factors in the
theater of operations (i.e., terrain and weather).
[7] U.S. General Accounting Office, Defense Logistics: Unfinished
Actions Limit Reliability of the Munition Requirements Determination
Process, GAO-01-18 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 5, 2001).
[8] In addition, the U.S. Special Operations Command had a separate
munitions budget to offset shortages resulting from the difference
between the quantities of munitions that the Command had determined
were required and the quantities the services had purchased. Title II
of the Goldwater-Nichols Department of Defense Reorganization Act of
1986 (P.L. 99-433) permitted the combatant commands to have their own
operations budgets.
[9] The Army‘s position was that unlike the air services that plan
munitions requirements to destroy assigned targets, assigning specific
targets to a land battle is meaningless, because the number of targets
destroyed may not be an accurate measure of a successful operation.
Specifically, in a land battle, circumventing enemy forces or
surrounding them and cutting off their supply lines may meet the
combatant commander‘s operational plan.
GAO‘s Mission:
The General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress,
exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional
responsibilities and to help improve the performance and accountability
of the federal government for the American people. GAO examines the use
of public funds; evaluates federal programs and policies; and provides
analyses, recommendations, and other assistance to help Congress make
informed oversight, policy, and funding decisions. GAO‘s commitment to
good government is reflected in its core values of accountability,
integrity, and reliability.
Obtaining Copies of GAO Reports and Testimony:
The fastest and easiest way to obtain copies of GAO documents at no
cost is through the Internet. GAO‘s Web site ( www.gao.gov ) contains
abstracts and full-text files of current reports and testimony and an
expanding archive of older products. The Web site features a search
engine to help you locate documents using key words and phrases. You
can print these documents in their entirety, including charts and other
graphics.
Each day, GAO issues a list of newly released reports, testimony, and
correspondence. GAO posts this list, known as ’Today‘s Reports,“ on its
Web site daily. The list contains links to the full-text document
files. To have GAO e-mail this list to you every afternoon, go to
www.gao.gov and select ’Subscribe to daily E-mail alert for newly
released products“ under the GAO Reports heading.
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