January 30, 2015

A new report says that over the past decade, personnel numbers at the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) increased by 20 percent. The rapid growth in personnel is due to increased mission responsibilities, reliance on federal employees instead of contractors, and reorganizations.

The increased involvement in and management of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was the primary driver of personnel growth. According to the report, “the military services have undertaken reviews to reduce headquarters but these budget-driven efforts have not been the result of systematic determinations of personnel needs.”

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) study made three major recommendations:

• The Secretary of Defense should conduct a systematic determination of personnel requirements
• Personnel requirements should be submitted in the next Defense Manpower Requirements Report to Congress along with any recommendations needed to modify existing statutory limits
• Periodic reassessments of personnel requirements should be performed within OSD and the military services' secretariats and staffs

Some services within OSD experienced higher personnel growth than others. For instance, according to the GAO report, between 2001 and 2013 the Army experienced a 60 percent increase in staff size, from about 2,300 positions to 3,600.

Some missions have understandably required the need for more personnel – for instance, ones on hot-button topics like cyber defense, suicide prevention, and sexual assault response – but mission creep has led to a bloated civilian staff.

“The GAO’s report is unsurprising,” said MOAA’s deputy director of government relations, Col Phil Odom, USAF (Ret). “The folks over in the Pentagon have struggled for years to get a handle on mission creep and the associated manpower positions.”

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel made note of this in 2013 and ordered a 20 percent reduction in the size of DoD’s headquarters’ budgets and staffs. Those reforms are currently underway.

Civilian staff performs a number of essential duties within DoD, such as policy development, planning, resource management, and fiscal and program evaluations. As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan wind down, DoD will face increased pressure to find greater budget efficiencies with its staff. MOAA understands budget reduction requirements, and does not oppose a staff drawdown. Nevertheless, staff level planning must account for any future wartime requirements and allow for unforeseen contingencies.