The National Guard has two elements—the Army National Guard and the Air National Guard—that mostly consist of part-time forces responsible for both federal and state missions. The Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve (Reserves) also largely consist of part-time forces and are responsible for only federal missions. In addition to these part-time forces, both the National Guard and the Reserves use full-time personnel for duties that can include pay processing, personnel actions, preparing and monitoring training schedules, and other tasks that cannot be effectively executed through the use of part-time personnel. These full-time positions—which DOD calls full-time support—in general are more expensive than part-time personnel because they are paid as full-time employees and receive greater compensation and benefits such as retirement, health-care, and education. As table 1 shows, the Army National Guard is authorized approximately 358,000 soldiers, and the Army Reserve approximately 205,000 soldiers, which collectively constitute about 50 percent of the Army’s total authorized end strength. Likewise, the Air National Guard has approximately 105,000 military personnel, and the Air Force Reserve has approximately 71,000 military personnel, which collectively are about 35 percent of the Air Force’s authorized end strength. Each state’s National Guard forces have a dual role as both a state and federal force, while the Reserves are strictly a federal force. Although the National Guard has a dual role, the federal government provides funding for National Guard personnel when they are conducting training and other federal missions. In fiscal year 2013, federal funding for National Guard personnel totaled about $11.1 billion. In addition, the federal government provides about 90 percent of the funding for National Guard installation base-operation and maintenance costs. The National Guard’s dual state and federal role means that state Governors have command and control over National Guard units when they are not performing federal missions or other federal service. The National Guard and Reserves maintain a number of nondeployable headquarters that are responsible for managing and overseeing subordinate units. Of the 75 headquarters we identified, 57 reside within the National Guard. The National Guard’s headquarters include the National Guard Bureau, Army National Guard Directorate, Air National Guard Readiness Center, and the National Guard’s 54 Joint Force headquarters—which DOD refers to as Joint Force Headquarters-State— located in each state, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. In addition, appendixes III and IV provide detailed information on the locations, missions and responsibilities of these headquarters. Figure 1 shows the organizational structure of the National Guard. The National Guard Bureau is managed by the Chief of the National Guard Bureau—a 4-star General who was placed on the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 2011. Reporting to the Chief are two Lieutenant Generals who manage the Army National Guard Directorate and the Air National Guard Readiness Center, respectively. When not activated for federal missions, each state’s National Guard’s forces are commanded by the Adjutants General who also command the states’ Joint Force headquarters. The state Joint Force headquarters each consist of a Joint staff element, Army staff element, and Air staff element. Each of these elements is subject to different processes for reassessing and validating personnel requirements. These headquarters are responsible for coordinating the planning, training, and execution of National Guard homeland defense, civil support, and other domestic emergency missions within the United States. They also manage the National Guard’s readiness and prepare National Guard units for federal mobilization. The Army National Guard provides a balance of maneuver (combat), maneuver support, and maneuver sustainment capabilities. The Air National Guard provides a broad range of ready combat and combat-support capabilities such as tactical airlift and special operations. The Army Reserve and Air Force Reserve maintain 18 nondeployable headquarters that manage or oversee subordinate units. The Army Reserve provides maneuver support and maneuver sustainment capabilities as well as individual soldiers through the Individual Ready Reserve and Individual Mobilization Augmentation programs. We identified 13 nondeployable Army Reserve headquarters that include the Office of the Chief of the Army Reserve, U.S. Army Reserve Command, 4 regional support commands, and 7 functional commands. See appendixes V through VII for detailed information on the locations, missions, and responsibilities of these headquarters. The Office of the Chief of the Army Reserve and the U.S. Army Reserve Command are commanded by the same Lieutenant General who, by law, also sits on the Army Staff. Reporting to the Chief are 11 General officers who command support and functional commands, ensure the readiness of personnel, and maintain reserve installations within the United States, as shown in figure 2. The Air Force Reserve provides a broad range of combat and combat- support capabilities. We identified five nondeployable headquarters that include Headquarters, Air Force Reserve; Air Force Reserve Command; and the 4th, 10th, and 22nd Air Forces. See appendixes VIII and IX for detailed information on the locations, missions and responsibilities of these headquarters. Headquarters, Air Force Reserve, and Air Force Reserve Command are commanded by the same Lieutenant General who, by law, also sits on the Air Staff. Reporting to the Chief are three General officers who help to ensure the readiness of Air Force Reserve forces, as shown in figure 3. The Joint Chiefs of Staff, the Army, and the Air Force have processes to size and structure headquarters organizations. In general, these processes seek to provide the minimum number of personnel needed to accomplish missions and performance objectives. Additionally, Congress requires DOD to report personnel data for its Major DOD Headquarters Activities to support congressional oversight of these headquarters. These headquarters are listed in a DOD instruction. Prior to 2008, Congress placed a cap on the number of personnel that could be assigned to such headquarters; however, Congress removed this cap in 2008. Our analysis found that the overall number of funded military and civilian positions at the Army’s and Air Force’s reserve-component headquarters has steadily increased since fiscal year 2009, primarily due to DOD’s reassignment of workload from contractors to full-time federal civilians and increased mission requirements. These increases have come amid broader DOD efforts since 2010 to constrain or reduce headquarters. Between fiscal year 2009 and 2013, the total number of positions funded for the 75 reserve-component headquarters we identified grew from about 30,200 to about 31,900—an increase of nearly 6 percent, as shown in figure 4. Overall, the National Guard increased by about 1,350 funded positions (5 percent) and the Reserves by about 330 funded positions (7 percent). The National Guard’s growth was driven by increases in the Army National Guard Directorate, which grew by about 750 funded positions over the period (about 44 percent). The National Guard Bureau, Air National Guard Readiness Center, and 54 state Joint Force headquarters increased about 17 percent, 21 percent, and 1 percent, respectively. The number of funded positions also increased at the Army Reserve’s headquarters, which grew by about 15 percent, but decreased at the Air Force Reserve’s headquarters by about 4 percent over the same period. Of the nearly 1,700 positions DOD added to these headquarters, approximately 37 percent (more than 620 positions) were for full-time support positions. The percentage of funded positions that were allocated for full-time personnel varied by headquarters. For example, nearly 100 percent of the positions funded for the National Guard Bureau, Air National Guard Readiness Center, Army National Guard Directorate, U.S. Army Reserve Command, and Headquarters, Air Force Reserve, were for full-time support in fiscal year 2013. In contrast, approximately 45 percent of funded positions at the state Joint Force headquarters and 33 percent of funded positions at the Army Reserve’s functional commands were for full-time positions in fiscal year 2013. Appendixes III through IX provide more-detailed analysis of positions funded at the headquarters we identified. Our analysis shows that the National Guard has consistently allocated a greater percentage of its funded military and civilian positions to its headquarters than the other reserve components. Specifically, funded positions at the Army National Guard headquarters we identified equaled 6 percent of its estimated military and civilian funded positions in fiscal year 2013 (about 22,800 of its 389,350 estimated civilian and military funded positions). This contrasts with the other reserve components we examined, which have 2 to 3 percent of their military and civilian funded positions in nondeployable headquarters. National Guard officials said that the Army National Guard has allocated more funded positions to its headquarters for several reasons, including the National Guard’s need to prepare for and execute homeland defense and civil support missions, recruit its own personnel, and maintain a U.S. Property and Fiscal office in each state. National Guard and Reserve officials told us that there are two main drivers of growth since 2009 in funded positions at reserve-component headquarters—DOD’s 2010 effort to reduce its reliance on contractors by reassigning their workload to federal civilian positions, referred to as “in- sourcing,” and expanded mission requirements. In April 2009, the Secretary of Defense announced his intention to reduce DOD’s reliance on contractors and increase the number of civilian positions. Reserve component officials said that DOD’s in-sourcing effort was a significant driver of growth in civilian positions. For example, Army National Guard officials said that DOD’s in-sourcing effort contributed to an increase in over 700 civilian positions at the Army National Guard Directorate. Likewise, Air National Guard officials said that DOD’s in-sourcing effort caused the Air National Guard Readiness Center to add 180 funded positions. The other driver of growth in funded positions identified by reserve- component officials was expanded mission requirements. Army Reserve officials noted that the 7th Civil Support Command’s increase of 71 funded positions from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2011 was the result of the Army closing a second Army activity and adding missions at the command.