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GAO-21-27R 1 (2020-11-18)

handle is hein.gao/gaobaebzk0001 and id is 1 raw text is: c rAO U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 441 G St. N.W. Washington, DC 20548 November 18, 2020 Congressional Committees Military Personnel: Perspectives on DOD's and the Military Services' Use of Borrowed Military Personnel The House Armed Services Committee has questioned whether the Department of Defense (DOD) continues to divert servicemembers from their unit assignments to perform nonmilitary functions that could be performed by civilian employees.1 In 2015, we reported that the Army did not know the extent to which it used borrowed military personnel, and we recommended that the Army establish a requirement to collect, track, and report data on the use of borrowed military personnel and provide guidance to ensure that data collected are complete and accurate.2 Although the Army concurred with our recommendation at that time, Army officials also stated that it would be unreasonable to require the Army to undertake such a tracking requirement, since the Army policy states that it is acceptable to use soldiers for training missions or for temporary functions. In addition, in August 2020 Army officials stated that Army policy, to be updated by December 2020, will further restrict the use of borrowed military personnel. House Report 116-120, accompanying a bill for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, included a provision for us to assess the levels and impacts of borrowed military personnel.3 This report examines DOD's and the military services' policies on the use of borrowed military personnel, the tracking and reporting of their use of borrowed military personnel, and any impacts of that use on readiness.4 For this objective, we reviewed and analyzed DOD and military service guidance on having servicemembers perform duties other than their current assignments on a temporary basis, 1H.R. Rep. No 116-120, at 228 (2019). 2GAO, Military Personnel: Army Needs a Requirement for Capturing Data and Clear Guidance on Use of Military for Civilian or Contractor Positions, GAO-15-349 (Washington, DC.: June 15, 2015). 3H.R. Rep. No 116-120, at 228 (2019). The respective services use differing terms and hold differing definitions for the practice of using military personnel to temporarily perform functions other than their assigned duties. For purposes of this report, we use the term borrowed military personnel to refer to servicemembers performing duties other than their current assignments on a temporary basis, inside or outside of their military occupational specialties, including functions that could be performed by civilians. 40n December 20, 2019, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020, Public Law 116-92, established the United States Space Force as a military service within DOD. Since we did not gather data from the Space Force given its status as a new organization, throughout this report we refer only to four military services within DOD. GAO-21-27R Military Personnel Page 1

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