Military Recruiting: Clarified Reporting Requirements and Increased Transparency Could Strengthen Oversight over Recruiter Irregularities
Abstract
To sustain a viable military force, the Department of Defense (DoD) depends on recruiting several hundred thousand qualified individuals into the military each year. The service components rely on their recruiters to act with the utmost integrity because even a single incident of wrongdoing on the part of a recruiter -- a recruiter irregularity -- can adversely affect the service components' ability to recruit qualified individuals. The most common types of recruiter irregularity reported involved concealment or falsification of documents or information, sexual misconduct, and quality control measures (e.g., valid parental signatures). The action most commonly applied against recruiters who committed irregularities varied by service component. Removal from recruiting was the most commonly applied action in the Marine Corps while adverse administrative action (e.g., a letter of reprimand in the recruiter's personnel file) was most commonly applied in the Army. GAO was asked to do the following: (1) analyze data on reported cases of recruiter irregularities across the service components, (2) review the extent to which the service components have guidance and procedures to address recruiter irregularities, and (3) review the extent to which the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has oversight over recruiter irregularities. GAO analyzed the data on recruiter irregularities reported to OSD by the service components; reviewed the service components' recruiter irregularity case files; examined relevant guidance and procedures from the service components; and interviewed service components' recruiting command personnel, recruiters, and OSD officials. GAO is making several recommendations to improve the service components' sharing of recruiter irregularity data, the clarity of OSD's reporting guidance, and the transparency of the data reported to OSD. In commenting on a draft of this report, DOD concurred with GAO's recommendations.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jan 01, 2010
- Accession Number
- ADA514439
Entities
People
- Amber Lopez
- Brenda S. Farrell
- Daniel Webb
- Elizabeth Mcnally
- Joanne Landesman
- K. N. Harms
- Katherine Lenane
- Natalya Barden
- Seth Carlson
- Steven R. Putansu
- Terry Richardson
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office