Military Readiness: Navy Needs to Assess Risks to Its Strategy to Improve Ship Readiness
Abstract
In 2010, the Navy concluded that decisions it made to increase the efficiencies of its surface force had adversely affected ship readiness and service life. To improve ship readiness the Navy developed a new strategy, which includes several initiatives. House Report 112-78, accompanying a proposed bill for the Fiscal Year 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (H.R.1540), directed GAO to review the recent Navy initiatives. GAO assessed the following: (1) how the Navy evaluates the material readiness of its surface combatant and amphibious warfare ships and the extent to which data indicate trends or patterns in the material readiness of these ships; and (2) the extent to which the Navy has taken steps to improve the readiness of its surface combatant and amphibious warfare ships, including implementing its new readiness strategy. GAO analyzed Navy policies, material, and readiness data from January 2008 -- two years prior to the release of the Navy's 2010 report on the degradation of surface force readiness -- through March 2012, two years after the release of the report, and interviewed headquarters and operational officials and ship crews. GAO recommends that the Navy conduct a comprehensive assessment of the risks the new strategy faces and develop alternatives to mitigate these risks. DoD partially concurred, but felt that current assessments sufficiently identify risks. GAO continues to believe that a comprehensive assessment that takes into account the full range of risk to the overall strategy is needed.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2012
- Accession Number
- ADA564509
Entities
People
- Amie Steele
- David Rodriguez
- Erik Wilkins-mckee
- Jim Ashley
- Mary Jo Lacasse
- Michael Ferren
- Michael Silver
- Nicole Volchko
- Nicole Willems
- Sharon L. Pickup
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office