Military Transformation: Clear Leadership, Accountability, and Management Tools Are Needed to Enhance DOD's Efforts to Transform Military Capabilities

Abstract

Because future threats the nation may face are uncertain, and with many competing demands on its resources, the Department of Defense (DoD) has begun to transform its military capabilities. This transformation will involve not only the acquisition of new weapon systems, but also the ways in which the Armed Forces think, train, and fight. In 2003, DoD estimated that $263 billion would be allocated from fiscal years 2004 through 2009 for transformation efforts. In this report, GAO does the following: (1) describes DoD's strategy to transform joint military capabilities; (2) assesses the extent to which DoD has established clear leadership, accountability, and a mechanism to integrate transformation efforts; and (3) assesses the extent to which DoD's framework incorporates results-oriented management tools to guide transformation efforts. GAO makes recommendations designed to establish clear leadership, accountability, and a more results-oriented management framework to guide DoD's transformation of military capabilities. In oral comments, the Office of Force Transformation disagreed with these recommendations but did not address the weaknesses described in this report or provide convincing evidence to show the recommendations are not warranted. Therefore, GAO continues to believe the recommendations are appropriate.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 01, 2004
Accession Number
ADA436100

Entities

People

  • Brenda Waterfield
  • Cheryl A. Weissman
  • David A. Mayfield
  • Dawn Godfrey
  • Elizabeth H. Curda
  • John Beauchanmp
  • Mary J. Lacasse
  • Robert L. Repasky
  • Sarah E. Veale

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Autonomy
  • C4I
  • Human Systems
  • Weapons Technologies

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accountability
  • Combat Operations
  • Command And Control
  • Congress
  • Department Of Defense
  • Governments
  • Information Systems
  • Lessons Learned
  • Military Acquisition
  • Military Capabilities
  • Military Operations
  • Military Science
  • Network Centric Warfare
  • Organizational Structure
  • United States Government
  • Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Defense Acquisition Program Management