Force Structure - Need for Greater Transparency for the Army's Grow the Force Initiative Funding Plan

Abstract

In January 2007, the Secretary of Defense announced an initiative to expand the Army from a total of 1,037,000 to 1,112,000 active and reserve soldiers by fiscal year 2013--an increase of 74,200 military personnel--in order to meet increasing strategic demands and to help reduce stress on the force. This planned expansion includes building six additional active modular brigade combat teams and additional modular support units, which will require a substantial increase in funding for personnel equipment, and infrastructure. Currently, the Army estimates this expansion may require about $70 billion in increased funding through fiscal year 2013 and a significant amount in annual funding thereafter to sustain the expanded Army. The President's fiscal year 2008 budget request contained $7.7 billion for Department of the Army funding related to the Grow the Force initiative. During the course of our review of Army modularity as required by the John Warner National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2007, we analyzed the $70.2 billion Grow the Force initiative funding plan. We are submitting this letter to you at this time to provide the results of our analysis for your consideration as your committees evaluate DOD's fiscal year 2009 defense budget submission, which will request additional funding to grow the force. Specifically, we examined the supporting documentation and comprehensiveness of the $70.2 billion funding plan. We will issue a separate report in spring 2008 in response to the authorization act's requirement for GAO to report on the Army's transformation to the modular force in fiscal year 2008. We will also be reporting on the Army's planning and budgeting process for Grow the Force facilities.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Dec 18, 2007
Accession Number
ADA475965

Entities

People

  • Barbara Gannon
  • Grace Coleman
  • Karen Thornton
  • Kathryn Smith
  • Kelly Baumgartner
  • Terry Richardson
  • Wendy Jaffe

Organizations

  • United States Government Accountability Office

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Human Systems

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Army Budgets
  • Army Personnel
  • Best Practices
  • Budgets
  • Civilian Personnel
  • Congress
  • Cost Analysis
  • Cost Estimates
  • Department Of Defense
  • Economic Analysis
  • Force Structure
  • Governments
  • House Of Representatives
  • Military Budgets
  • Military Personnel
  • United States Government
  • Warfare

Readers

  • Civilian Systems Systems Program Capability Development and Upgrade Support Activity Expense and Pay Management.
  • Government Contracting/Procurement.
  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.