Military Personnel: Additional Steps Are Needed to Strengthen DOD's Oversight of Ethics and Professionalism Issues
Abstract
Professionalism and sound ethical judgment are essential to executing the fundamental mission of DOD and to maintaining confidence in military leadership, but recent DOD and military service investigations have revealed misconduct related to, among other things, sexual behavior, bribery, and cheating. House Report 113-446 included a provision for GAO to review DOD s ethics and professionalism programs for military servicemembers. This report examines the extent to which DOD has developed and implemented (1) a management framework to oversee its programs and initiatives on ethics and professionalism; and (2) tools and performance metrics to identify, assess, and measure progress in addressing ethics and professionalism issues. GAO analyzed DOD guidance and documents related to military ethics and professionalism, reviewed literature to identify ethics issues and practices, and interviewed DOD, industry, and foreign military officials experienced in implementing ethics and professionalism programs. GAO recommends DOD determine whether there is a need for a valuesbased program, assess the expansion of training, modify guidance, assess the use of a key tool for identifying ethics and professionalism issues, and develop performance metrics. DOD generally or partially concurred with these recommendations but did not agree to develop information to assess the Advisor s office. GAO continues to believe the recommendations are valid, as further discussed in the report.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2015
- Accession Number
- ADA621101
Entities
People
- Amie Lesser
- Brenda S. Farrell
- Jim Lager
- Leia Dickerson
- Leigh A. Sheffield
- Marc Schwartz
- Michael Silver
- Ryan D Amore
- Tracy Barnes
- Tyler Kent
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office