DEFENSE 

TRANSPORTATION

DOD Can Better 

Ensure That Federal 

Agencies Fully 

Reimburse for Using 

Military Aircraft

Report to Congressional Requesters

February 2014

GAO-14-189

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-14-189, a report to 

congressional requesters

February 2014

DEFENSE TRANSPORTATION

DOD Can Better Ensure That Federal Agencies Fully 

Reimburse for Using Military Aircraft

Why GAO Did This Study

Senior federal government officials—

including high-ranking DOD officials, 

cabinet members, and members of 

Congress—are required or authorized 

to fly on military aircraft. This highpriority movement of senior 

government officials, known as special 

air missions, is accomplished with a 

fleet of 15 aircraft assigned to the Air 

Force’s 89th Airlift Wing, located at 

Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Both 

the Office of Management and Budget 

and DOD issued guidance on the 

management and use of these aircraft.

GAO was requested to examine 

government officials’ use of military 

aircraft and the regulations and policies 

that govern such travel. GAO 

examined the extent to which (1) 

senior federal government officials 

have used military aircraft and the 

costs associated with this travel, and 

(2) agencies have followed guidance 

governing the use of military aircraft by 

senior federal government officials. 

GAO reviewed relevant legislation and 

guidance, DOD’s processes, and 

special air mission data from fiscal 

years 2008 through 2012. This review 

does not include air travel by the 

President, Vice President, First Lady, 

and Second Lady.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that DOD ensure 

federal agencies fully reimburse for 

special air missions when required by 

developing a process to identify and 

track each mission, such as by mission 

number or another unique identifier, 

from billing through reimbursement for 

all applicable costs. In written 

comments on a draft of the report, 

DOD concurred with the 

recommendation.

What GAO Found

The Air Force’s 89th Airlift Wing flew 2,513 special air missions for senior federal 

government officials during fiscal years 2008 through 2012, with the number of 

missions increasing by 13 percent from 463 missions in fiscal year 2008 to 522 

missions in fiscal year 2012. The cost of special air missions ranged from about 

$17 million in fiscal year 2008 to about $26 million in fiscal year 2012, and the 

fees paid for secure communication services ranged from about $4 million in 

fiscal year 2008 to $7 million in fiscal year 2012. The federal agencies with the 

greatest number of special air missions were the Department of Defense (DOD)

and the Department of State. Members of Congress had the next highest number 

of missions. Collectively, these agencies and Congress constituted about 91 

percent of all special air missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing.

Number and Cost of 89th Airlift Wing’s Missions (by Fiscal Year)

Fiscal year Number of missions Cost (in millions)

2008 463 $17

2009 509 14

2010 502 15

2011 517 24

2012 522 26

Total 2513 $96

Source: GAO analysis of Air Force data. 

Note: Dollar values have not been adjusted for inflation.

DOD and other federal agencies followed DOD guidance on the high-priority 

movement of senior federal government officials on military aircraft, but DOD 

does not identify and track reimbursements for each mission. This guidance 

addresses the request, approval, prioritization, scheduling, and reimbursement 

from non-DOD agencies for special air missions. Federal internal control 

standards emphasize the importance of internal control activities, such as 

documenting transactions and events, to help ensure that management’s 

directives are carried out. However, DOD does not identify and track whether it 

was reimbursed for each special air mission. GAO determined that traveling 

agencies should have reimbursed DOD approximately $5 million for 180 special 

air missions flown during fiscal years 2009 through 2012. However, GAO found 

that DOD was unable to document reimbursement for 16 of the 180 special air 

missions. Specifically, 2 of the 16 missions were not billed to the proper agency 

in fiscal year 2010. DOD officials stated that the remaining 14 missions were 

properly billed, but officials could not document reimbursement. DOD officials 

told GAO that they do not routinely identify and track reimbursements for each 

mission and that DOD’s guidance does not specifically require organizations to 

identify and track each special air mission throughout the billing and 

reimbursement process, such as tracking by mission number or another unique 

identifier. This is partly because agencies at times make one payment to DOD for 

multiple missions. However, without a process to identify and track each special 

air mission for reimbursement, DOD cannot ensure that it has been fully 

reimbursed as required by DOD guidance.

View GAO-14-189. For more information, 

contact Chris P. Currie at (404) 679-1875 or 

curriec@gao.gov.
Page i GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Letter 1

Background 3

Number and Cost of Special Air Missions Have Increased Over 5 

Years 10

Agencies Followed Guidance for Special Air Missions, but DOD 

Does Not Identify and Track Reimbursements for Each Mission 14

Conclusions 18

Recommendation for Executive Action 18

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 18

Appendix I Scope and Methodology 21

Appendix II Capabilities of Military Aircraft Used By the 89th Airlift Wing to 

Perform Special Air Missions 23

Appendix III 89th Airlift Wing’s Number of Special Missions, by Traveling Agency

and by Fiscal Year (in Alphabetical Order) 24

Appendix IV Comments from the Department of Defense 25

Appendix V GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 28

Tables

Table 1: Priority Rankings of Senior Federal Government Officials 

Authorized to Fly on the 89th Airlift Wing’s Aircraft 8

Table 2: Federal Agency Reimbursement Rates Per Flying Hour 

for 89th Airlift Wing Aircraft (Fiscal Years 2008 through 

2012)10

Table 3: Number and Cost of 89th Airlift Wing’s Special Air 

Missions (by Fiscal Year) 11

Table 4: Number of Special Air Missions Flown by the 89th Airlift 

Wing (by Aircraft and by Fiscal Year) 13

Contents
Page ii GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Table 5: Fees for Secure Communications Services by Fiscal 

Year13

Table 6: Number and Cost of Reimbursable Missions by Agency 

from Fiscal Years 2009 through 2012 (from Highest to 

Lowest Number of Missions) 16

Figures

Figure 1: Examples of Aircraft Flown by the 89th Airlift Wing 5

Figure 2: Process of Requesting, Approving, and Scheduling 

Special Air Missions 6

Figure 3: Process for Reimbursing DOD for the Cost of Special Air 

Missions 9

Figure 4: Total Percentage and Number of Special Air Missions 

Flown by the 89th Airlift Wing (by Traveling Agency 

During Fiscal Years 2008 through 2012) 12

Abbreviations

DFAS Defense Finance and Accounting Service

DOD Department of Defense

OMB Office of Management and Budget

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Page 1 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

February 27, 2014

The Honorable Tom Coburn, M.D.

Ranking Member

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

United States Senate

The Honorable Richard Burr

United States Senate

Senior federal government officials—including high-ranking Department 

of Defense (DOD) officials, cabinet members, and members of 

Congress—are authorized to fly on military aircraft, and sometimes 

officials are required to use military aircraft such as when they require 

security, continuous access to secure communications, or have 

exceptional scheduling demands.1 This high-priority movement of senior 

government officials, known as special air missions, is accomplished with 

a fleet of 15 aircraft assigned to the Air Force’s 89th Airlift Wing, located 

at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.2

Both the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)3 and DOD4

 1

Within DOD, the Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and the Chairman 

and Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff are required to travel on military aircraft for 

all air travel.

have 

issued guidance on the management and use of military aircraft available 

for special air missions. Federal officials issue guidance in part because 

the cost of flying on military aircraft typically is more costly than flying 

commercial aircraft and to establish procedures when demand for military 

2 This report does not review air travel by the President, Vice President, First Lady, and 

Second Lady. Other than the President, who travels exclusively on VC-25 aircraft (Boeing 

747 aircraft designated as Air Force One when transporting the president), the Vice 

President, First Lady, and Second Lady travel on all of the various aircraft used by the 

89th Airlift Wing.

3

OMB, Improving the Management and Use of Government Aircraft, Circular No. A-126

(Washington, D.C.: May 22, 1992).

4

DOD, DOD Policy on the Use of Government Aircraft and Air Travel, DOD Directive 

4500.56 (Washington, D.C.: May 11, 2010); and DOD, DOD Support for Travel of 

Members and Employees of Congress, DOD Directive 4515.12 (Washington, D.C.: Jan. 

15, 2010).
Page 2 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

aircraft exceeds availability. In 1999, our most recent review of the use of 

military aircraft for special air missions, we found weaknesses in guidance 

and in internal controls, including billing and reimbursements for air travel 

by non-DOD government officials.5

You requested that we examine government officials’ use of military 

aircraft and the regulations and policies that govern such travel. This 

report examines the extent to which (1) senior federal government 

officials have used military aircraft and the costs associated with this 

travel, and (2) agencies have followed guidance governing the use of 

military aircraft by senior federal government officials.

Specifically, we recommended that 

DOD improve its billing and reimbursement process to ensure that DOD 

organizations comply with departmental accounting and financial 

management requirements to record transactions in a manner that 

permits verification of the proper handling of the funds. DOD 

subsequently improved its billing and reimbursement process by 

establishing agreements with other agencies to electronically transfer 

reimbursements.

To determine the extent to which senior federal government officials have 

used military aircraft and the costs associated with this travel, we 

tabulated the number of special air missions6

 5

GAO, Defense Transportation: 89th Airlift Wing Executive Branch Policies Improved but 

Reimbursement Issues Remain, 

flown by the 89th Airlift 

Wing and calculated the costs associated with these missions—including 

aircraft operating costs and the use of secure communications—for fiscal 

years 2008 through 2012, which was the most recent 5-year period that 

data was available. We calculated the cost of special air missions flown 

during fiscal years 2008 through 2012 using the flight duration of the 

missions and the Air Force’s actual cost per flying hour associated with 

the type of aircraft used. The cost per flying hour is calculated by the Air 

Force at the end of each fiscal year by dividing the actual annual costs for 

fuel, maintenance, and the salaries of military personnel who plan and 

execute the missions by the number of hours flown for each aircraft. To 

determine the extent to which agencies have followed guidance 

governing the use of military aircraft by senior federal government 

officials, we examined relevant guidance issued by DOD, OMB, and the 

White House, as well as relevant laws. We compared this guidance and 

GAO/NSIAD-99-170, Aug. 16, 1999.

6

For this report, a “mission” refers to all the flight legs of a round trip.
Page 3 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

the Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government7

We conducted this performance audit from March 2013 to February 2014 

in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives. We discuss our scope and 

methodology in more detail in appendix I.

to the 

request, approval, scheduling, and reimbursement processes followed by 

DOD and the White House Military Office to determine whether the 

processes were in accordance with the guidance and federal internal 

control standards. This review does not include travel by the President, 

Vice President, First Lady, and Second Lady. To determine if DOD 

received payments for reimbursable missions, we reviewed billing and 

payment data retained by the Air Force and the Defense Finance and 

Accounting Service for the past four fiscal years 2009 through 2012. We 

analyzed the data for any anomalies, such as inaccurate or missing 

information, and interviewed officials from the Air Force and the White 

House Military Office to discuss how data was accumulated and verified.

Based on this analysis, we determined that the data on the number of 

missions flown, their associated costs, and subsequent reimbursements 

were sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our review.

OMB Circular A-126 and DOD guidance require that DOD’s aircraft for 

special air missions operate primarily for official purposes to:

• perform agency responsibilities, as directed by the Secretary of 

Defense or the President;

• transport officials that the President or the Secretary of Defense 

designate due to the need for security, secure communications, or 

exceptional scheduling; and

 7

GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1

(Washington, D.C.: November 1999).

Background

Requirements for Travel 

on Military Aircraft
Page 4 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

• transport officials for other agency business, such as giving speeches, 

attending conferences, and making routine site visits.8

DOD guidance also states that certain officials, such as the Secretary of 

Defense and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are required at all 

times to use military aircraft in lieu of commercial aircraft. Because of this 

requirement, these officials are authorized to fly on military aircraft for 

unofficial travel.9 Guests may accompany authorized senior federal 

government officials when space is available; however, schedulers may 

not select a larger aircraft to accommodate guests. Moreover, guests are 

required to pay the U.S. Treasury the cost of a coach-class ticket for a 

comparable itinerary.

The 89th Airlift Wing, which is headquartered at Joint Base Andrews in 

Maryland, provides worldwide transportation for cabinet members, 

members of Congress, and other high-ranking dignitaries of the United 

States and foreign governments. Within the 89th Airlift Wing, the 

Presidential Airlift Group manages air transportation exclusively for the 

President. The Office of Special Air Missions, which is within the Office of 

the Air Force’s Vice Chief of Staff, coordinates and schedules the 89th 

Airlift Wing’s special air missions.10

As of December 2013, the 89th Airlift Wing supported special air missions 

by maintaining a fleet of 15 aircraft, which was composed of 5 C-20Bs 

(equivalent to a Gulfstream III), 6 C-37A/Bs (equivalent to a Gulfstream V) 

and 4 C-32s (equivalent to a Boeing 757). Figure 1 show examples of 

these aircraft.

 8

According to OMB Circular A-126 and DOD Directive 4500.56, air travel for other agency 

business normally should be accomplished using commercial transportation; however, use 

of military aircraft can be authorized when commercial transportation is not reasonably 

available to effectively fulfill the agency’s requirement, where highly unusual 

circumstances present a clear and present danger, an emergency exists, using military 

aircraft is more cost effective than using commercial transportation, or other compelling 

operational considerations make commercial transportation unacceptable. 

9

The officials required to travel on military aircraft must pay the U.S. Treasury the cost of a 

commercial airline’s coach-class ticket for any portion of each mission that is unofficial 

travel.

10This report does not review travel by the President, Vice President, First Lady, and 

Second Lady.

Role of the 89th Airlift 

Wing in Special Air 

Missions for DOD
Page 5 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Figure 1: Examples of Aircraft Flown by the 89th Airlift Wing

Appendix II provides details on the capabilities of aircraft in the 89th Airlift 

Wing. The 89th Airlift Wing’s flight operations are funded from annual 

appropriations to the Air Force’s operation and maintenance account. The 

Air Mobility Command manages the portion of the account that funds the 

wing. For fiscal year 2012, the wing reported an annual operating budget 

of $70.7 million.

OMB, DOD, and White House guidance outlines the process that 

executive branch agencies, the White House, and Congress follow to 

request, approve, prioritize, and schedule travel by senior government 

officials on military aircraft (see fig. 2).

Process for Requesting, 

Approving, and 

Scheduling Special

Air Missions
Page 6 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Figure 2: Process of Requesting, Approving, and Scheduling Special Air Missions

Note: Travel requests for DOD officials who are designated as required to use military aircraft do not 

need approval by the OSD’s Executive Secretary.
Page 7 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Senior federal government officials seeking to travel on 89th Airlift Wing 

aircraft must submit their requests for review and agency-level approval 

within their respective agencies. The agency is expected to review the 

itinerary and passenger list, ascertain whether the trip is for official 

reasons, and determine whether the agency should reimburse DOD for

the cost of the travel. When the travel is directed by the President, the 

request is reviewed and approved by the Office of the Secretary of 

Defense’s Executive Secretary. Members of Congress submit their 

requests to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for 

Legislative Affairs for review and approval. Requests from executive 

branch agencies, including those prepared by DOD, are submitted to the 

Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Executive Secretary for review and 

approval. Once approved, requests are forwarded to the Air Force’s 

Office of Special Air Missions for scheduling and a unique five-digit 

identifying number is assigned for each mission. If the 89th Airlift Wing 

does not have sufficient aircraft to accommodate all of the requests for 

travel, the Office of Special Air Missions works with the agencies to 

accommodate their requests. Accommodating requests may entail 

changing the time or dates, or using aircraft from sources outside of the 

89th Airlift Wing. If Air Force schedulers cannot accommodate competing 

requests, schedulers plan the missions according to the traveling officials’

priority rankings, which are shown in table 1.
Page 8 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Table 1: Priority Rankings of Senior Federal Government Officials Authorized to Fly on the 89th Airlift Wing’s Aircraft

Ranking Officials included (in descending order of priority)

Priority 1 • President of the United States

• Foreign heads of state

Priority 2 • Vice President of the United States

• Speaker of the House

• Former presidents

• Cabinet secretaries, Secretary of Defense, Secretary of State

• White House Chief of Staff

• U.S. Trade Representative

• U.S. senators, U.S. representatives

• Deputy cabinet secretaries, Deputy Secretary of Defense

• Assistants and counsels to the President, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency

• Military services’ secretaries

• Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

• Military services’ chiefs

• Combatant commanders

Priority 3 • Military services’ under secretaries, Office of the Secretary of Defense assistant secretaries

• National Guard Bureau Chief, service vice chiefs, major command chiefs

Priority 4 • Combatant command deputies, military service three-star flag officers

Source: Air Force’s Office of Special Air Missions.

Federal agencies generally are required to reimburse DOD for the cost of 

special air missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing.11 After the completion 

of a special air mission that is reimbursable to DOD, the Office of Special 

Air Missions sends a memo to Air Mobility Command’s Financial 

Management Directorate12

 1131 U.S.C. § 1535; OMB Circular No. A-126, Att. A. Under some circumstances 

President-directed missions of non-DOD travelers may not be reimbursable.

to collect payment for the mission. The memo 

includes an invoice for the mission’s costs. The Financial Management 

Directorate reviews the invoice information and, if approved, forwards it to 

the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), which inputs the 

invoice information into the Air Force’s General Accounting and Finance 

System. DFAS notifies the Department of the Treasury to transfer funds 

12As of October 1, 2012, the Air Force transferred responsibilities in the reimbursement 

process from the Air Mobility Command’s Financial Management Directorate to the 89th

Airlift Wing’s Financial Management Office. 

Requirement to 

Reimburse for Travel on 

Special Air Missions
Page 9 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

for the mission’s costs from the traveling agency’s budget account into 

the Air Force’s budget account. Once the transfer of funds is complete, 

DFAS records the reimbursement in the Air Force’s accounting system. 

This process is shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Process for Reimbursing DOD for the Cost of Special Air Missions

In accordance with OMB Circular A-126, DOD calculates the 

reimbursement amount for special air missions by multiplying a 

predetermined hourly rate of the particular type of aircraft by the number 

of hours flown. The Air Force sets the hourly rate—based on historical 

actual costs and projected mission costs—to cover fuel, maintenance, 

and the salaries of military personnel who plan and execute the missions. 

Table 2 shows the reimbursement rates for federal agencies for fiscal 

years 2008 through 2012. These reimbursement rates do not include the 

cost of in-flight services such as catering and secure communications, 

which are provided by DOD-approved private contractors and are billed 

separately.
Page 10 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Table 2: Federal Agency Reimbursement Rates Per Flying Hour for 89th Airlift Wing Aircraft (Fiscal Years 2008 through 2012)

Aircraft 2008 Rate 2009 Rate 2010 Rate 2011 Rate 2012 Rate

C-20B (Gulfstream III) $5,279 $6,210 $3,953 $5,188 $5,475

C-32A (Boeing 757) 18,418 12,202 12,082 12,723 11,842

C-37A (Gulfstream V) 6,950 2,926 1,905 3,461 3,273

C-37B (Gulfstream V) $6,950 $2,926 $1,905 $3,527 $3,273

Source: Air Force’s Office of Financial Management and Comptroller.

From fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012, the 89th Airlift Wing flew a 

total of 2,513 special air missions—522 special air missions during fiscal 

year 2012, a 13-percent increase over the 463 missions that it flew during 

fiscal year 2008. The cost of special air missions ranged from about $17 

million in fiscal year 2008 to about $26 million in fiscal year 2012, and the 

fees paid for secure communication services ranged from about $4 million 

in fiscal year 2008 to $7 million in fiscal year 2012.13

From fiscal year 2008 through fiscal year 2012, the 89th Airlift Wing flew 

2,513 special air missions to transport senior federal government officials 

at a cost of about $96 million. As table 3 shows, over the 5-year period 

that we reviewed, the number of special air missions—which include 

reimbursable and nonreimbursable missions—flown by the 89th Airlift 

Wing generally increased. Overall, the number of special air missions 

increased by 13 percent from fiscal year 2008 (463 missions) through 

fiscal year 2012 (522 missions). Officials from the 89th Airlift Wing told us 

that this increase in special air missions was caused by many factors, 

including greater demand from DOD and other federal agencies for 89th 

Airlift Wing aircraft and the limited availability of other military and 

government-operated aircraft to transport senior federal government 

officials. The annual cost of special air missions fluctuated from a low of 

$14 million in fiscal year 2009 to a high of $26 million in fiscal year 2012. 

Officials attributed this cost fluctuation to the increase in the number of 

missions flown, as well as cost changes in fuel, aircraft maintenance, and 

military personnel salaries.

 13Dollar values have not been adjusted for inflation.

Number and Cost of 

Special Air Missions 

Have Increased

Over 5 Years

Number of Special Air 

Missions Increased 13 

Percent and Cost About 

$96 Million for Fiscal Years 

2008 Through 2012
Page 11 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Table 3: Number and Cost of 89th Airlift Wing’s Special Air Missions (by Fiscal 

Year)

Fiscal year Number of missions

Cost

(in millions)

2008 463 $17

2009 509 14

2010 502 15

2011 517 24

2012 522 26

Total 2513 $96

Source: GAO analysis of data from the Air Force’s Office of Special Air Missions.

The federal agencies with the largest number of special air missions were 

DOD (1,928 missions) and the Department of State (220 missions), as 

shown in figure 4. Members of Congress had the next highest number of 

missions with 133 missions. Collectively, these two agencies and 

Congress accounted for about 91 percent of all special air missions flown 

by the 89th Airlift Wing. Examples of why agencies used 89th Airlift Wing 

aircraft—instead of their own agencies’ aircraft or commercial aircraft—

include:

• An official from the Department of State was directed by the President 

to travel on a nonreimbursable basis in furtherance of foreign policy, 

for which commercial aircraft would not be able to provide the 

necessary secure communications and security.

• The Secretary of Veterans Affairs traveled on a reimbursable basis 

due to exceptional scheduling demands.

• The Attorney General traveled on a reimbursable basis because the 

Department of Justice’s Gulfstream aircraft was unavailable while

being used on another mission.
Page 12 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Figure 4: Total Percentage and Number of Special Air Missions Flown by the 89th 

Airlift Wing (by Traveling Agency During Fiscal Years 2008 through 2012)

Note: Percentages do not add to 100 due to rounding. Other agencies include the Departments of 

Agriculture, Commerce, Health and Human Services, the Interior, Energy, Justice, Housing and 

Urban Development, Labor, Veterans Affairs, and Transportation.

See appendix III for a complete breakout of the special air missions flown 

by the 89th Airlift Wing, by traveling agency and by fiscal year.

Of the four types of military aircraft that the 89th Airlift Wing used for 

special air missions during fiscal years 2008 through 2012, the C-20B 

(Gulfstream III) was used most often to transport senior federal 

government officials, accounting for over 40 percent of all missions. The 

C-20B can carry up to 12 passengers and is used primarily for travel 

within the continental United States. The C-37A (Gulfstream V) and C37B (Gulfstream V) also can carry up to 12 passengers, but can fly more 

than twice the distance and hours as the C-20B. The C-32A (Boeing 757) 

can carry up to 46 passengers, and can fly about the same distance and 

hours as the C-37A and C-37B. Table 4 shows the number of special air 

missions flown on each of the 89th Airlift Wing’s aircraft, and by fiscal 

year. Appendix II provides more information on the capabilities of these 

aircraft.
Page 13 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Table 4: Number of Special Air Missions Flown by the 89th Airlift Wing (by Aircraft 

and by Fiscal Year)

Aircraft (civilian equivalent) 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total

C-20B (Gulfstream III) 261 256 222 150 177 1066

C-32A

(Boeing 757)

37 37 36 39 23 172

C-37A (Gulfstream V) 162 165 182 174 149 832

C-37B (Gulfstream V) 3 51 61 154 173 443

Total 463 509 501 517 522 2513

Source: GAO analysis of data from the Air Force’s Office of Special Air Missions.

During fiscal years 2008 through 2012, federal agencies paid DOD about 

$29 million14

Table 5: Fees for Secure Communications Services by Fiscal Year

for providing secure communications services (e.g., secure 

telephone calls, e-mail, and Internet access) on 89th Airlift Wing special 

air missions (see table 5). Annual fees for secure communications 

services ranged from about $4 million in fiscal year 2008 to $7 million in 

fiscal year 2012.

Fiscal year

Total cost

(in millions)

2008 $4

2009 4

2010 7

2011 6

2012 7

Total $29

Source: 89th Airlift Wing’s Office of Financial Management.

Note: Numbers do not add up due to rounding.

Agencies pay DOD for secure communications services that are used 

during flights. Each agency is charged a fee of $500 to $1,000 per special 

air mission for secure communications services and pre-flight equipment 

 14Dollar values have not been adjusted for inflation.

Agencies Paid DOD About 

$29 Million for Secure 

Communications
Page 14 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

testing, regardless of whether agencies use this capability. Additional 

charges are applied on a per-unit basis, so agencies are charged per 

minute of telephone time and per kilobyte of data downloaded. Agencies 

that fly frequently on military aircraft can enter into an annual support 

agreement with the 89th Airlift Wing that includes an estimate of charges 

it will pay for secure communications services in the upcoming fiscal year.

DOD and other federal agencies followed DOD guidance on the highpriority movement of senior federal government officials on military 

aircraft. This guidance addresses the request, approval, prioritization, 

scheduling—and in DOD’s case—reimbursement from non-DOD 

agencies for special air missions. However, DOD does not identify and 

track whether it was reimbursed for each special air mission. DOD 

guidance does not specify that DOD officials should track 

reimbursements by special air mission. However, internal control 

standards emphasize the importance of activities, such as documenting 

transactions, to help ensure that management directives are carried out—

in this case, that each special air mission was reimbursed when required. 

We found that DOD was unable to document reimbursement for 16 

(about 9 percent) of 180 special air missions; the 16 missions cost about 

$353,000 during fiscal years 2009 through 2012.15

DOD established processes governing the use of military aircraft by 

senior federal government officials from DOD, other executive branch 

agencies, the White House, and Congress, including a process for 

collecting reimbursements when required. These processes outline 

procedures for requesting, approving, and prioritizing travel to minimize 

costs and to effectively use limited resources. For example, the Office of 

Special Air Missions established guidance outlining its process for 

contacting and coordinating with traveling agencies prior to scheduling a 

mission. Agencies follow the processes outlined in the guidance in order 

to be approved to use military aircraft. Further, the processes implement 

the requirement that federal agencies reimburse DOD for the cost of 

special air missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing. Traveling agencies 

reimburse at a rate that the Air Force sets annually for each aircraft type 

 15Dollar values have not been adjusted for inflation. DOD retained financial data on 

special air mission reimbursements for the past four years (since fiscal year 2009). In 

contrast, DOD had special air mission data for the past five years (since fiscal year 2008). 

Agencies Followed 

Guidance for Special 

Air Missions, but 

DOD Does Not 

Identify and Track 

Reimbursements for 

Each Mission

Agencies Follow Guidance 

for Special Air Missions
Page 15 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

to cover the cost of fuel and maintenance, contractor fees, and salaries of 

military personnel who plan and execute the missions.16

Since our 1999 report, in which we found that DOD did not collect 

payments for all billed reimbursable missions,

For example, for 

fiscal year 2012, the Air Force set a reimbursement rate of $3,273 per 

flying hour for each of six C-37A/B aircraft in the 89th Airlift Wing.

17 DOD established 

partnership agreements with several agencies that travel frequently on 

military aircraft. These agreements allow for electronic transfer of funds 

via the Department of Treasury’s Intra-governmental Payment and 

Collection System to cover the cost of a completed special air mission. 

DFAS officials told us that under these partnership agreements, when a 

special air mission is approved and scheduled, the traveling agency 

agrees to pay an estimated amount of money to cover the cost of that 

mission. After the 89th Airlift Wing notifies DFAS that a mission has been 

completed, DFAS transfers funds from the traveling agency to DOD to 

cover mission costs. If a traveling agency does not have a partnership 

agreement with DOD to enable transfer of funds through the IntraGovernmental Payment and Collection System, DFAS will bill the agency 

for reimbursement costs.

We determined that traveling agencies should have reimbursed DOD 

approximately $5 million for 180 (about 9 percent) of the 2,050 special air 

missions flown during fiscal years 2009 through 2012.18

Of the 180 reimbursable special air missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing 

during fiscal years 2009 through 2012, 77 missions involved agencies

that, given the sensitivity of their work, are not identified in this report at 

However, DOD 

does not identify and track the billing and reimbursement for each special 

air mission and officials could not document whether agencies paid all 

required reimbursements.

 16The rates do not include the cost of in-flight services, such as catering and secure 

communications, which are provided by DOD-approved contractors and are billed 

separately.

17GAO, Defense Transportation: 89th Airlift Wing Executive Branch Policies Improved but 

Reimbursement Issues Remain, GAO/NSIAD-99-170 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 16, 1999).

18Dollar values have not been adjusted for inflation.

DOD Does Not

Identify and Track 

Reimbursements for

Each Special Air Mission
Page 16 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

DOD’s request.19

Table 6: Number and Cost of Reimbursable Missions by Agency from Fiscal Years 

2009 through 2012 (from Highest to Lowest Number of Missions)

Two other agencies with large numbers of reimbursable 

special air missions were the Department of State (49 missions) and 

Department of Homeland Security (34 missions). Collectively, these three 

groups of agencies accounted for about 89 percent of reimbursable 

special air missions flown on the 89th Airlift Wing’s aircraft. Table 6 shows 

the number and cost of reimbursable special air missions by each 

traveling agency during fiscal years 2009 through 2012.

Agencies

Number of 

missions

Reimbursement 

amount

(in millions)

Sensitive Missions 77 $1.8

State 49 1.0

Homeland Security 34 1.3

Labor, Veterans Affairs, 

Transportationa 8 0.1

Treasury 6 1.0

Energy 3 0.5

Agriculture 2 0.1

Justice 1 0.02

Total 180 $5.3b

Source: GAO analysis of data from Air Mobility Command and DFAS.

a

Officials from these agencies flew together on all 8 missions.

b

Numbers do not add up due to rounding.

DOD’s reimbursement process for special air missions involved three 

organizations that do not track each reimbursement by mission number 

throughout the billing and reimbursement process. The three 

organizations are: the Office of Special Air Missions, the Air Mobility 

 19The Office of Special Air Missions issued a policy memo in February 2012 that outlined 

procedures for managing sensitive special air missions to reduce the likelihood of 

information leaks, such as limiting the release of information to what was required for 

mission execution.
Page 17 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Command’s Financial Management Directorate,20 and DFAS. When a 

reimbursable special air mission is completed, the Office of Special Air 

Missions notifies the Financial Management Directorate by transmitting a 

list of mission numbers,21

DOD and Air Force financial management officials told us that DOD does 

not routinely identify and track each special air mission and whether DOD 

was fully paid for all required reimbursements, and that it is not 

uncommon for agencies to reimburse DOD for multiple missions with one 

payment. Consequently, DOD officials could not readily discern whether 

the department was fully reimbursed for each and all missions. Standards 

for Internal Control in the Federal Government emphasize the importance 

of internal control activities, such as documenting transactions and 

events, to help ensure that management’s directives are carried out, in 

this case, that each special air mission was reimbursed if required.

as well as other information such as the 

approval memo and an invoice for each mission. With this information, 

the Financial Management Directorate tabulates the cost of one or 

several missions for a particular agency and enters the total cost in the 

Air Force’s General Accounting and Finance System but does not always 

note the identifying mission numbers. DFAS, using the directorate’s data 

entries, bills the traveling agency for the total cost of accrued special air 

missions, and records when agency payment is received.

22

However, according to DOD officials, DOD’s guidance does not 

specifically require that DOD organizations develop and implement a 

process to identify and track each special air mission throughout the 

billing and reimbursement for all applicable costs, such as tracking by 

mission number or another unique identifier. At our request, DOD officials 

identified documentation of reimbursement of the missions, and we found 

that traveling agencies reimbursed DOD almost $5 million for 164 special 

air missions.23

 20As of October 1, 2012, the Air Force transferred responsibilities in the reimbursement 

process from the Air Mobility Command’s Financial Management Directorate to the 89th

Airlift Wing’s Financial Management Office.

However, DOD initially was unable to document whether 

agencies reimbursed, as required, about $353,000 owed for 16 special air 

21The Office of Special Air Missions, at the time a mission is scheduled, assigns a unique 

five-digit number to identify each mission.

22GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1

(Washington, D.C.: November 1999).

23Dollar values have not been adjusted for inflation.
Page 18 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

missions. Upon further review, officials in the Office of Special Air 

Missions found that 2 of the 16 missions without documented 

reimbursements were not billed to the proper agency in fiscal year 2010, 

and those costs were not reimbursed. The cost of these 2 missions was 

about $7,000. DOD officials stated that the remaining 14 missions were 

properly billed for about $346,000, but they could not document whether 

they had been reimbursed. Officials agreed that tracking reimbursements 

by mission number would help them determine whether agencies had 

reimbursed DOD for each special air mission. Without a process to 

identify and track each special air mission throughout billing and 

reimbursement, DOD cannot ensure that it has been fully reimbursed as 

required by DOD policy.

From fiscal years 2008 through 2012, the Air Force’s 89th Airlift Wing flew 

senior federal government officials on more than 3,400 special air 

missions. DOD has developed a process to manage requests, approvals, 

and scheduling that is consistent with OMB and DOD guidance. However, 

without a process to identify and track the costs and applicable agency 

reimbursements on a mission-by-mission basis, and DOD is unable to 

document whether it was paid for all required reimbursements. 

Consequently, DOD may not be receiving required reimbursements for 

the cost of special air missions.

To ensure that federal agencies fully reimburse DOD for special air 

missions when required to do so, we recommend that the Secretary of 

Defense direct the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief 

Financial Officer to revise guidance and require that DOD organizations 

develop and implement a process that identifies and tracks each special 

air mission, such as tracking by mission number or another unique 

identifier, from billing through reimbursement for all applicable costs.

We provided a draft of this report to DOD for official review and comment. 

In its written response, reproduced in appendix IV, DOD concurred with 

our recommendation and provided additional comments. DOD also 

provided technical clarifications, which we incorporated where 

appropriate.

In its written comments, DOD stated that our recommendation would 

address the documentation problems that we identified in the 

reimbursement process. Specifically, DOD stated that it anticipates 

Conclusions

Recommendation for 

Executive Action

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation
Page 19 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

issuing further regulatory guidance to address our recommendation, and 

the Office of the Secretary of Defense’s Executive Secretary has asked 

federal agencies requesting the use of military aircraft to include a line of 

accounting code in each request memo. According to DOD, this 

accounting code, along with the Air Force’s unique five-digit number for 

each special air mission, will ensure repayments of appropriate mission 

expenses. We believe that DOD is taking a step in the right direction to 

improve its internal controls by including a line of accounting code in the 

request memos, which would identify the agency budget account to 

charge and would make the billing process quicker. However, agencies 

often reimburse for multiple missions with one payment under the same 

budget account, which would still not identify whether each special air 

mission was reimbursed. We continue to believe that DOD should use the 

unique identifiers that it assigns to each special air mission to track each 

mission throughout the billing and reimbursement process to better 

ensure that DOD is fully reimbursed, as appropriate, for each mission. 

Doing so would allow DOD to fix a gap in internal controls that does not 

allow DOD to readily match billing with subsequent reimbursements for 

each special air mission and would fully address our recommendation. 

During our review, we and DOD officials had to expend considerable time 

and effort to identify, obtain, and analyze documentation to determine

whether the department was appropriately reimbursed for each special air 

mission.

In its written comments, DOD also stated that we did not include a large 

portion of the missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing that supported travel 

by the President, Vice President, and their families in this review. We 

recognize that these missions are a large part of the 89th Airlift Wing’s 

total missions; however, the scope of this review focused solely on travel 

by high-level executives within DOD and other federal agencies.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees; the Secretary of Defense; the Under Secretary of Defense 

for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; the Under Secretary of 

Defense (Comptroller); the Secretary of the Air Force; the Office of 

Management and Budget; General Services Administration; the White 

House Military Office; and other interested parties. In addition, the report 

is available at no charge on the GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.
Page 20 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (404) 679-1875 or curriec@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices 

of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last 

page of this report. GAO staff who made key contributions to this report 

are listed in appendix V.

Chris P. Currie

Acting Director

Defense Capabilities and Management
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Page 21 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

To determine the extent to which senior federal government officials have 

used military aircraft and the costs associated with this travel, we 

obtained and analyzed information from the 89th Airlift Wing regarding

special air missions during fiscal years 2008 through 2012 for executive 

branch agencies and Congress. Specifically, we tabulated the number of 

special air missions flown by agency and by fiscal year. We excluded 

from our review special air missions on aircraft outside of those in the Air 

Force’s 89th Airlift Wing that DOD infrequently uses to transport senior 

officials. The aircraft used outside of the 89th Airlift Wing include assets of

the Air Force’s 310th Air Squadron located at MacDill Air Force Base, 

Florida; the 201st Air Squadron at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland; the 

932nd Airlift Wing at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois; as well as aircraft of 

the Navy, Army, U.S. Pacific Command, U.S. European Command, and 

U.S. Africa Command. To determine the costs associated with the 89th

Airlift Wing’s special air missions, we calculated the cost of special air 

missions flown during fiscal years 2008 through 2012 using the flight 

duration of the mission and the cost per flying hour associated with the 

type of aircraft used. The cost per flying hour is calculated by the Air 

Force at the end of each fiscal year by dividing the actual annual costs for 

fuel, maintenance, and the salaries of military personnel who plan and 

execute the missions by the number of hours flown for each aircraft. We 

analyzed the data for any anomalies, such as inaccurate or missing 

information. Further, we met with officials from the Air Force’s Office of 

Special Air Missions and the White House Military Office to discuss how 

the mission data was accumulated and validated for accuracy and 

completeness. We determined that the data on the number of special air 

missions flown, the names of the traveling agencies that flew on these 

missions, and the costs associated with these missions were sufficiently 

reliable for the purposes of our review.

To determine the extent to which agencies have followed guidance 

governing the use of military aircraft by senior federal government 

officials, we analyzed relevant directives, instructions, manuals, and other 

guidance issued by DOD, OMB, and the White House, reviewed relevant 

laws, and met with cognizant officials from these organizations, and from 

the General Services Administration and the Department of the Treasury. 

We compared the organizations’ guidance and the Standards for Internal 

Control in the Federal Government to the request, approval, scheduling, 

and reimbursement processes adopted by the 89th Airlift Wing, Air 

Force’s Office of Special Air Missions, Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, 

DFAS, and the White House Military Office to determine whether the 

processes were in accordance with the guidance and internal control 

standards. This review does not include travel by the President, Vice 

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Page 22 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

President, First Lady, and Second Lady. To identify those special air 

missions for which DOD should be reimbursed and the amounts to be 

reimbursed, we analyzed Air Force and DFAS billing and payment data, 

which were available for the past four years from fiscal years 2009 

through 2012. To determine if DOD received payments for the identified 

reimbursable missions, we reviewed billing and reimbursement 

documentation and met with officials from DFAS and Air Mobility 

Command to discuss their process for collecting and tracking 

reimbursements. We determined that the reimbursement data were 

sufficiently reliable for the purposes of our review.

We conducted this performance audit from March 2013 to February 2014 

in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain 

sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our 

findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe that 

the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Appendix II: Capabilities of Military Aircraft 

Used By the 89th Airlift Wing to Perform 

Special Air Missions

Page 23 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Aircraft (civilian 

equivalent)

Number of aircraft 

assigned to the 

89th Airlift Wing

Passenger capacity 

(with ravensa) Aircraft rangeb Primary users

C-20B

(Gulfstream III)

5 12 (10) 2,500 miles

or 5 hours

Vice President, Secretary of State, 

Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of 

Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff

C-32 A

(Boeing 757)

4 46 4,500 miles

or 11 hours

Vice President, Secretary of State, 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

C-37A

(Gulfstream V)

3 12 (10) 5,200 miles

or 11 hours

Vice President, Secretary of State, 

Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of 

Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff

C-37B

(Gulfstream V)

3 12 (10) 5,500 miles

or 11 hours

Vice President, Secretary of State, 

Secretary of Defense, Deputy Secretary of 

Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 

Staff

Source: Air Force’s Office of Special Air Missions.

a

Ravens are U.S. Air Force security personnel who are responsible for protecting Air Force aircraft in 

the air and on the ground.

b

The aircraft range is the distance and time that an aircraft can fly without refueling.

Appendix II: Capabilities of Military Aircraft 

Used By the 89th Airlift Wing to Perform 

Special Air Missions
Appendix III: 89th Airlift Wing’s Number of 

Special Missions, by Traveling Agency and by 

Fiscal Year (in Alphabetical Order)

Page 24 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Agencies 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 Total 

Agriculture 1 2 0 1 0 4

Commerce 3a 0 0 0 0 3

Congress 0 53 49 20 11 133

DOD 369 372 374 411 402 1928

Energy 1 3 2 0 1 7

Health and Human Services 2 1 0 0 0 3

Homeland Security 12 10 10 11 14 57

Housing and Urban Development 1 0 1 0 0 2

Interior 1 2 0 0 3

Justice 2 2 0 1 1 6

Labor, Veterans Affairs, Transportationb 1 2 8 1 0 12

Sensitive Missionsc 30 23 10 19 34 116

State 34 35 45 50 56 220

Treasury 5 4 3 4 3 19

Total 463 509 502 517 522 2513

Source: GAO analysis of data from the Air Force’s Office of Special Air Missions.

a

One of these missions included officials from the Departments of Labor, Veterans Affairs, and 

Transportation.

b

Officials from these three agencies flew together on all 12 missions.

c

The sensitive missions involved agencies that, given the sensitivity of their work, are not identified in 

this report at DOD’s request.

Appendix III: 89th Airlift Wing’s Number of 

Special Missions, by Traveling Agency and 

by Fiscal Year (in Alphabetical Order)
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Defense

Page 25 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Appendix IV: Comments from the 

Department of Defense
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Defense

Page 26 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft
Appendix IV: Comments from the Department 

of Defense

Page 27 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft
Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Page 28 GAO-14-189 Military Aircraft

Chris P. Currie, (404) 679-1875 or curriec@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, Marc Schwartz, Assistant 

Director; John Beauchamp; Richard Burkard; Cynthia Grant; Hillary 

Hampton; Gina Hoffman; Amie Steele Lesser; Richard Powelson; and 

Christine San made key contributions to this report.

Appendix V: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments

(351803)
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