Improvised explosive devices have caused numerous injuries and fatalities among U.S. and coalition forces while carrying out operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. To mitigate this threat, DOD has taken a number of actions, such as deploying its expeditionary forensic capabilities. In 2003, DOD established the Combined Explosives Exploitation Cells to provide technical intelligence on improvised explosive devices and render safe these devices and other combustible materials so that they can be forensically analyzed to obtain, among other things, latent fingerprints of the individuals responsible for manufacturing and placing the devices. In 2006, DOD further expanded its use of expeditionary forensics by establishing the joint expeditionary forensic facilities to analyze materials, such as ammunition and clothing items collected on the battlefield, to help identify enemy combatants through latent prints and DNA analysis, among other things. In 2011, DOD consolidated the Combined Explosives Exploitation Cells and the joint expeditionary forensic facilities to form Expeditionary Forensic Laboratories under the purview of the Army in order to realize efficiencies and minimize redundancies. These combined laboratories, like their predecessors, are modular, deployable, containerized units that can operate 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and provide the capability to forensically analyze material such as latent fingerprints, DNA, explosives, drugs, and firearms and tool marks in response to warfighter needs. Figure 1 shows three of the Expeditionary Forensic Laboratory modules operating in Afghanistan. The Army also established a reachback operations center to oversee the deployment of Expeditionary Forensic Laboratories and to provide forensic expertise and analytical capabilities to process any overflow of forensic cases from Iraq and Afghanistan. In addition to the Army’s expeditionary forensic capabilities, the Navy has provided staff support to the Combined Explosives Exploitation Cells through its Explosive Ordnance Disposal Technical Division. The Marine Corps has relied on the Army’s Expeditionary Forensic Laboratories to forensically analyze material that the Marine Corps has collected on the battlefield for subsequent targeting and prosecutions. The Special Operations Command has developed expeditionary forensic toolkits and exploitation analysis centers as part of its sensitive site exploitation program to collect latent fingerprint and DNA samples, among other things. The Air Force focuses on digital and multimedia forensic applications to support operations such as counterintelligence to process, analyze, and translate data collected from electronic devices. We did not include the Air Force in our review because we focused on the forensic disciplines of latent fingerprints and DNA. In 2008, DOD issued a concept of operations that identifies existing, emerging, and future forensic capabilities, and calls for the department to plan for robust, fully-coordinated, and well-resourced forensic applications across the full range of military operations. The concept of operations states that integrating forensics—particularly expeditionary forensics—is necessary to meet current and emerging requirements. The concept of operations identifies several areas that the department needs to address to develop an enduring expeditionary forensic capability, including the following: Doctrine—forensic doctrine to address the multiple uses of information, varying timelines, and scientific challenges across the strategic, operational, and tactical levels; Training, Leadership and Education—forensic training and education for all levels of operations, and to ensure leadership understands the value of forensics; Materiel—equipment and systems for the collection, transfer, exploitation, dissemination, and storage of forensic material and information; and Facilities—deployed and institutional forensic laboratories to meet mission requirements. In an effort to address the areas identified in the concept of operations, in 2009, DOD initiated a capabilities based assessment, which includes validating expeditionary forensic requirements as an enduring capability within the department, through the Joint Capabilities Integration and Development System. This system guides the development of capabilities from a joint perspective, to help identify capability gaps and validate the requirements of proposed capability solutions to mitigate those gaps. As part of this process, from 2011 to 2013, DOD developed and validated an initial capabilities document that contained information on those capabilities needed to support current and future forensic activities across the department—including expeditionary forensics. Furthermore, in early 2013, DOD initiated a change recommendation that will lay out specified required forensic capabilities and projected costs. The process to review and approve the change recommendation is scheduled to begin in January 2014. Department of Defense, DOD Directive 5205.15E. The directive does not cover unique forensic applications that support technical nuclear or technical chemical and biological disciplines, and specialized intelligence collected through reconnaissance programs. In October, 2011, USD(AT&L) appointed a Director, Defense Biometrics and Forensics, to oversee his responsibilities for the Defense Forensics Enterprise. We did not examine digital and multimedia forensics because it is outside the scope of our review. validate joint requirements for forensic capabilities for the joint force, and coordinate theater-specific requirements for forensic capabilities. DOD has taken some important steps to establish an enduring expeditionary forensic capability by issuing a concept of operations, and a directive that calls for a strategic plan addressing DOD’s enterprise-wide forensics, including expeditionary forensics, but has not completed its strategic plan or reviewed and evaluated the adequacy of DOD components’ budget estimates. DOD has drafted a forensic strategic plan; however, it does not include three of the five key elements identified by GAO as integral to a well-developed strategic plan. Specifically, the plan does not include approaches for how the goals and objectives will be achieved, milestones and metrics to gauge progress, and resources needed to achieve the goals and objectives. Also, the forensic strategic plan has been in draft for 2 years without a scheduled completion date. OUSD(AT&L) officials stated that the draft is still undergoing internal review within the department. DOD plans to capture some of the elements of a strategic plan in implementation plans to be developed by DOD components; however, the timeframe for issuance of these implementation plans is unknown since they will follow publication of the strategic plan. In addition, according to DOD’s forensic directive, USD(AT&L) is to review the adequacy of DOD components’ forensic- related acquisition programs and associated budget submissions to ensure they meet DOD’s overarching forensic requirements and objectives. However, at the time of our review, OUSD(AT&L) had not reviewed and evaluated forensic budget estimates for fiscal years 2013 through 2018 to ensure they meet the Defense Forensic Enterprise requirements and objectives. OUSD(AT&L) officials said that they had difficulty identifying forensic activities that are not specifically cited within the DOD components’ forensic budget estimates. Further, OUSD(AT&L) officials said that while the DOD directive calls for OUSD(AT&L) to conduct a review of forensic-related programs and budget submissions, it does not provide guidance on how forensic budget data should be collected and reported by the DOD components. DOD has taken some important steps to establish an expeditionary forensic capability by issuing a concept of operations in 2008 and a directive in 2011 to establish policy and assign responsibilities. Consistent with the directive, DOD has drafted a strategic plan to guide the activities of the Defense Forensic Enterprise, including expeditionary forensics. However, DOD’s strategic plan does not include three of the five key elements identified by GAO as integral to a well-developed strategic plan. The plan includes a mission statement and goals and objectives, but does not include approaches for how these goals and objectives will be achieved, milestones and metrics to gauge progress, and resources (e.g., funding and personnel) needed to achieve these goals and objectives. GAO’s prior work on strategic planning has shown that organizations need a well-developed strategic plan to identify and achieve their goals Table 1, below, lists the key and objectives effectively and efficiently.elements of a strategic plan and indicates those that are and are not included in DOD’s draft strategic plan for the Defense Forensic Enterprise. Consistent with these criteria, the draft strategic plan includes a mission statement and four broad goals that outline DOD’s intent to meet the department’s overarching needs for the Defense Forensic Enterprise. These goals are to (1) provide forensic information that is accurate and timely, (2) develop cost-effective methods for providing forensic capabilities, (3) maximize the availability and accessibility of forensic- related information, and (4) invest in forensic research and technology. The strategic plan also includes a number of subordinate objectives that are linked to the four goals. However, the strategic plan does not include some key elements, such as approaches for how the objectives will be achieved, milestones and metrics to gauge DOD’s progress, and the resources needed to meet its goals and objectives. For example, the two objectives under the plan’s third goal—to maximize the availability and accessibility of forensic-related information—call for creating and promoting a forensic information-sharing culture that supports multiple users within DOD as well as with interagency and international partners. However, these objectives neither describe an approach for accomplishing them, nor include milestones, metrics, and resources. Without these key elements, DOD will be unable to measure its progress and adjust its approach when warranted, and identify the resources necessary to achieve the goals and objectives outlined in the strategic plan. Consequently, DOD may not have the information it needs to make well-informed decisions about forensics, including setting priorities for expeditionary forensic capabilities in an increasingly constrained fiscal environment. The April 2011 DOD directive assigned OUSD(AT&L) responsibility for coordinating and publishing the DOD enterprisewide forensics strategic plan. An OUSD(AT&L) official stated that his office decided to create a concise, high-level strategic plan that included broad goals and subordinate objectives, but not milestones. According to this official, this decision was consistent with several other DOD strategic documents including the National Defense Strategy.