Hotline Report on the Proposed Elimination of the Nuclear Command and Control System Support Staff (REDACTED)

Abstract

In October 2012, the DoD Office of Inspector General received a hotline complaint alleging that the Deputy Secretary of Defense, through the office of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation, was preparing to eliminate the Nuclear Command and Control System [NCCS] Support Staff (NSS). DoD staff billets from NSS would allegedly be transferred to supplement the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA). The allegation stated that because National Security Presidential Directive (NSPD)-28 established the NSS as an independent staff with an interagency mission to serve the President, the Deputy Secretary of Defense has no authority to eliminate the NSS while NSPD-28 is in effect. We were unable to identify any provision of NSPD-28 or federal law specifically prohibiting the Deputy Secretary of Defense from transferring billets from the NSS to DISA. The Secretary of Defense, and by extension, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, has the authority to organize the DoD staff in accordance with federal law and as he/she deems necessary to accomplish the mission. However, the use of NSS billets to increase DISA staff would require transfer of NSPD-28 responsibilities. Therefore, we concluded that the only relevant hotline issue to examine was how the presidentially-directed responsibilities would be accomplished if the billets are removed from the NSS. After a preliminary inquiry, we delayed initiating the review because a decision regarding use of NSS billets to improve DISA's nuclear systems engineering capability bad yet to be made. Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation had explained that NSS presidentially-directed responsibilities: would be presented to the Deputies Management Action Group for a decision. However, using NSS billets to improve DISA's nuclear systems engineering capability was subsequently dropped from the Deputies Management Action Group's decision making process.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 06, 2013
Accession Number
AD1016450

Entities

Organizations

  • United States Department of Defense

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • C4I
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Command And Control
  • Command And Control Systems
  • Control Systems
  • Department Of Defense
  • Engineering
  • Federal Law
  • Information Systems
  • Law
  • National Security
  • Security
  • Systems Engineering
  • Test And Evaluation

Readers

  • Defense Financial Management and Audit.
  • Government and Public Administration Law.
  • Naval Personnel Management

Technology Areas

  • Fully Networked C3
  • Fully Networked C3 - Command and Control