The drawdown of equipment and personnel from Iraq is a highly complex operation of significant magnitude. According to DOD, as of February 2010, there were approximately 98,100 U.S. military personnel in Iraq, spread among 228 bases throughout the country. Additionally, as of February 2010, the Army reported that there were approximately 3.1 million pieces of equipment in Iraq, worth almost $28 billion, about 20 percent of which is DOD owned, theater provided equipment, which is a pool of permanent stay behind equipment that has accumulated in Iraq since combat operations began in 2003. Theater provided equipment includes both standard and non-standard equipment. Standard equipment refers to those items authorized on a military unit’s modified table of organization and equipment. Non-standard equipment refers to equipment issued to units that is not authorized on their modified table of organization and equipment, and includes a wide range of items such as construction equipment, materiel handling equipment, flat screen televisions, certain types of radios, and Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAP). Figure 1 provides a more detailed breakdown of the U.S. Army equipment in Iraq. The logistics infrastructure supporting the redeployment and retrograde effort in the Iraqi theater of operations is large and complex, consisting of military organizations operating in both Iraq and Kuwait, and it is through Kuwait’s three seaports and two airports that the majority of U.S. forces, materiel, and equipment flow from the theater of operations. Moreover, myriad logistics organizations in both Iraq and Kuwait also support these operations, including elements of CENTCOM, U.S. Transportation Command, the Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Army Central (ARCENT), the 1st Theater Sustainment Command, Army Materiel Command, U.S. Marine Corps Central Command, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. Air Forces Central Command, and U.S. Special Operations Command. According to our previous reports and testimonies on Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm, the retrograde of materiel and equipment is likely to consume the most time and resources throughout the drawdown effort. We have also reported extensively on the use of contractor personnel for combat and logistics support and the need for improvements in the management of contractors used to support military operations. DOD contracted services needed in Iraq and Kuwait as the drawdown progresses fall under two general categories: (1) services that will need to be decreased as the U.S. military presence declines and (2) services for which demand may temporarily increase due to drawdown-specific needs, such as transporting equipment for retrograde. Contracted services can be further categorized as those services provided under LOGCAP, including the majority of base and life support in Iraq such as meals, sleeping arrangements and laundry services, transportation within Iraq, and postal services, and those not provided by LOGCAP, such as security guards for bases. A number of DOD organizations have issued plans outlining a phased drawdown from Iraq that meet time frames set forth in the Security Agreement and presidential guidance while being responsive to security conditions on the ground. Furthermore, in accordance with these plans, DOD created several organizations to facilitate the retrograde of equipment and support unity of effort, and established goals and metrics to track its progress. According to DOD, these efforts to date contributed to the meeting or exceeding of targets for drawing down forces and retrograding equipment. However, while DOD has made significant progress executing the drawdown, there remains a large amount of personnel, equipment, and bases yet to be drawn down within the established timelines. Moreover, DOD has yet to fully plan for contracted services needed during the drawdown. Beginning in May 2009, MNF-I and its subordinate command responsible for executing the drawdown from Iraq, Multi-National Corps-Iraq (MNC-I); Headquarters, Department of the Army; and USF-I issued coordinated plans outlining how the drawdown of military and contractor personnel, equipment, and bases should be managed over time. These plans support DOD’s goals for reducing, by August 31, 2010: (1) the number of military personnel to 50,000, (2) the number of contractor personnel to 55,000 while increasing the proportion of Iraqi contractor personnel, and (3) the number of bases to 134. In addition, to mitigate the risk of bottlenecks of equipment during the later phases of the drawdown, commanders were directed to identify organizational equipment and theater provided equipment no longer essential for ongoing operations and turn it in for retrograde. Accordingly, MNC-I set a goal of retrograding 1,500 non- mission essential items of rolling stock per month until April 2010, and 2,500 per month after this date to reach a level of 16,500 of these items remaining in Iraq by the change-of-mission date. Similarly, MNC-I set a goal of drawing down 3,000 containers full of other equipment through April 2010, and then 3,800 containers per month after that date, leaving 17,000 containers worth of non-rolling stock in Iraq. In support of its plans DOD created several organizations to oversee the drawdown and ensure unity of effort. In September 2008, we reported that the variety of organizations exercising influence over the retrograde process and the resultant lack of a unified or coordinated command structure was not consistent with joint doctrine, which led to confusion and inefficiencies in the retrograde process. To bolster unity of effort, MNF-I established a new organization, the Drawdown Fusion Center, to provide a strategic picture of drawdown operations, identify potential obstacles, address strategic issues, and assist in the development of policy and guidance related to several aspects of the drawdown. Assisting the Drawdown Fusion Center was ARCENT’s Support Element-Iraq, a liaison element established to enhance synchronization and coordination among MNF-I; MNC-I; ARCENT; Headquarters, Department of the Army; and Army Materiel Command. This organization also generated theater and Department of the Army disposition guidance for all forces and materiel redeploying and retrograding out of Iraq. USF-I has subsequently integrated the Drawdown Fusion Center, ARCENT’s Support Element-Iraq, and the MNF-I and MNC-I logistics offices into one organization under the USF-I Logistics Directorate. Moreover, it has established a Drawdown Synchronization Center as the single entity within USF-I responsible for synchronizing, analyzing, and capturing drawdown data and then disseminating the data to the appropriate DOD organizations. Finally, in order to assist with the provision of disposition instructions for materiel retrograding out of Iraq and synchronize those instructions with the reset of Army equipment, the Department of the Army, with Army Materiel Command as the lead agency, created a Responsible Reset Task Force. The drawdown from Iraq commenced with the publication of MNF-I’s plan in May 2009. According to the metrics DOD established to track drawdown progress, efforts to reduce personnel and retrograde equipment in the initial months of the drawdown exceeded targeted goals. For example, according to USF-I, as of February 8, 2010, there were just over 98,100 servicemembers in Iraq, approximately 3,200 fewer than had been projected. In addition, as of January 2010, DOD retrograded 2,610 more pieces of rolling stock than projected and, as of December 2009, 5,195 more containers of equipment than projected. While DOD’s progress since May 2009 exceeded some of its targets, a large amount of personnel, equipment, and bases remain to be drawn down within the established timelines. To meet the presidential target of reducing the number of U.S. forces in Iraq to 50,000 by August 31, 2010, USF-I must reduce its present force by almost 50 percent by this summer. Furthermore, to meet other drawdown targets for August 31, 2010, USF-I must draw down 45 percent of its contractor personnel workforce, retrograde 46 percent of its rolling stock, and close 41 percent of its bases in Iraq. The remaining forces, contractor personnel, and equipment will have to be drawn down during the final 16 months, from August 31, 2010 to December 31, 2011, during which time some of the largest bases in Iraq will also have to be closed or transferred to the Government of Iraq, a task the commanding general of USF-I stated could take 9 to 10 months to complete. Figure 2 illustrates the numbers of U.S. forces, contractor personnel, rolling stock, containers, and bases that have already been drawn down; what must be drawn down before the August 31, 2010 change-of-mission date; and what will remain to be drawn down before December 31, 2011. DOD took some steps to plan for and source contracted services needed during the drawdown. For instance, DOD planned for some LOGCAP requirements needed during the drawdown, including the number of transportation systems, Army post offices, and logistics support services required at specific bases. According to DOD documentation, operational commands in Iraq validated these requirements for LOGCAP at the bases that will remain open past August 31, 2010, and communicated these requirements to the LOGCAP program office which, in turn, took steps toward awarding the LOGCAP task orders. Additionally, other supporting contracting organizations in Iraq took steps to meet the needs for non- LOGCAP services that were identified as required by military units or other deployed organizations. For example, the Joint Contracting Command-Iraq/Afghanistan, an organization that manages non-LOGCAP service contracts, which comprise about 20 percent of all contracts in Iraq, plans to expand its use of theaterwide contracts to provide food services, medical support, fire protection, facilities and housing, and other base and life support needs.