Sec. 351. Streamlining of Department of Defense management and operational headquarters
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The Secretary of Defense shall conduct a comprehensive review of the management and operational headquarters of the Department of Defense for purposes of consolidating and streamlining headquarters functions. The review required by paragraph
(1)shall address the following: The extent, if any, to which the staff of the Secretaries of the military departments and the Chiefs of Staff of the Armed Forces have duplicative staff functions and services and could be consolidated into a single service staff. The extent, if any, to which the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the military departments, the Defense Agencies, and temporary organizations have duplicative staff functions and services and could be streamlined with respect to— performing oversight and making policy; performing staff functions and services specific to the military department concerned; performing multi-department staff functions and services; and performing functions and services across the Department of Defense with respect to intelligence collection and analysis. The extent, if any, to which the Joint Staff, the combatant commands, and their subordinate service component commands have duplicative staff functions and services that could be shared, consolidated, eliminated, or otherwise streamlined with— the Joint Staff performing oversight and execution; the staff of the combatant commands performing only staff functions and services specific to the combatant command concerned; and the staff of the service component commands of the combatant commands performing only staff functions and services specific to the service component command concerned. The extent, if any, to which reductions in military and civilian end-strength in management or operational headquarters could be used to create, build, or fill shortages in force structure for operational units. The extent, if any, to which revisions are required to the Defense Officers Personnel Management Act, including requirements for officers to serve in joint billets, the number of qualifying billets, the rank structure in the joint billets, and the joint qualification requirement for officers to be promoted while serving for extensive periods in critical positions such as program managers of major defense acquisition programs, and officers in units of component forces supporting joint commands, in order to achieve efficiencies, provide promotion fairness and equity, and obtain effective governance in the management of the Department of Defense. The structure and staffing of the Joint Staff, and the number, structure, and staffing of the combatant commands and their subordinate service component commands, including, in particular— whether or not the staff organization of each such entity has documented and periodically validated requirements for such entity; whether or not there are an appropriate number of combatant commands relative to the requirements of the National Security Strategy, the Quadrennial Defense Review, and the National Military Strategy; and whether or not opportunities exist to consolidate staff functions and services common to the Joint Staff and the service component commands into a single staff organization that provides the required functions, services, capabilities, and capacities to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and supported combatant commanders, and if so— where in the organizational structure such staff functions, services, capabilities, and capacities would be established; and whether or not the military departments could execute such staff functions, services, capabilities, and capacities while executing their requirements to organize, train, and equip the Armed Forces. The statutory and regulatory authority of the combatant commands to establish subordinate joint commands or headquarters, including joint task forces, led by a general or flag officer, and the extent, if any, to which the combatant commands have used such authority— to establish temporary or permanent subordinate joint commands or headquarters, including joint task forces, led by general or flag officers; to disestablish temporary or permanent subordinate joint commands or headquarters, including joint task forces, led by general or flag officers; to increase requirements for general and flag officers in the joint pool which are exempt from the end strength limitations otherwise applicable to general and flag officers in the Armed Forces; to participate in the management of joint officer qualification in order to ensure the efficient and effective quality and quantity of officers needed to staff headquarters functions and services and return to the services officers with required professional experience and skills necessary to remain competitive for increased responsibility and authority through subsequent assignment or promotion, including by identifying— circumstances, if any, in which officers spend a disproportionate amount of time in their careers to attain joint officer qualifications with corresponding loss of opportunities to develop in the service-specific assignments needed to gain the increased proficiency and experience to qualify for service and command assignments; and circumstances, if any, in which the military departments detail officers to joint headquarters staffs in order to maximize the number of officers receiving joint duty credit with a focus on the quantity, instead of the quality, of officers achieving joint duty credit; to establish commanders’ strategic planning groups, advisory groups, or similar parallel personal staff entities that could risk isolating function and staff processes, including an assessment of the justification used to establish such personal staff organizations and their impact on the effectiveness and efficiency of organizational staff functions, services, capabilities, and capacities; and to ensure the identification and management of officers serving or having served in units in subordinate service component or joint commands during combat operations and did not receive joint credit for such service. The Secretary shall, to the extent practicable and as the Secretary considers appropriate, conduct the review required by paragraph
(1)in consultation with such experts on matters covered by the review who are independent of the Department of Defense. Not later than March 1, 2016, the Secretary shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report setting forth the results of the review required by paragraph (1). Not later than January 31, 2016, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to the congressional defense committees, and implement, a plan designed to ensure that the amount used by the Department of Defense for administration from amounts authorized to be appropriated for a fiscal year for operation and maintenance shall be as follows: In fiscal year 2016, an amount that is 7.5 percent less than the amount authorized to be appropriated for fiscal year 2015 for operation and maintenance, Defense-wide, and available for administration (in this paragraph referred to as the fiscal year 2015 administration amount ). In fiscal year 2017, an amount that is 15 percent less than the fiscal year 2015 administration amount. In fiscal year 2018, an amount that is 22.5 percent less than the fiscal year 2015 administration amount. In fiscal year 2019, an amount that is 30 percent less than the fiscal year 2015 administration amount. As part of meeting the requirements in paragraph (1), the plan shall provide for reductions in personnel (including military and civilian personnel of the Department of Defense and contract personnel in support of the Department) in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the secretariats and military staffs of the military departments, the staffs of the Defense Agencies, the staffs of the Joint Staff, the staffs of the combatant commands, and the staffs of their subordinate service component commands. The plan may not meet the requirements in paragraph
(1)through reductions in funding for administration for the following: The United States Special Operations Command. The Department of Defense Education Activity. Any classified program. Any program relating to sexual assault prevention and response. Not later than 90 days after the end of each of fiscal years 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to the congressional defense committees a report setting forth the assessment of the Comptroller General of the extent to which the Department of Defense met the applicable requirement in subsection (b)(1) during such fiscal year. In each of fiscal years 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, amounts authorized to be appropriated for the Department of Defense and available for the Office of the Secretary of Defense may not be obligated or expended for contract personnel in support of the Office of the Secretary of Defense until the Secretary of Defense certifies to the congressional defense committees that the applicable requirement in subsection (b)(1) was met during the preceding fiscal year.