DOD Instruction 5100.73, Major DOD Headquarters Activities, defines major headquarters activities as those headquarters (and the direct support integral to their operation) whose primary mission is to manage or command the programs and operations of DOD, its components, and their major military units, organizations, or agencies. The instruction provides an official list of the organizations that it covers, including OSD; the Joint Staff; the Offices of the Secretary of the Army and Army Staff; the Office of the Secretary of the Navy and Office of the Chief of Naval Operations; Headquarters, Marine Corps; and the Offices of the Secretary of the Air Force and Air Staff. These organizations have responsibilities that include developing guidance, reviewing performance, allocating resources, and conducting mid-to-long-range budgeting as they oversee, direct, and control subordinate organizations or units. In addition to OSD, the Joint Staff, and the secretariats and staffs of the military services, other headquarters organizations include portions of the defense agencies, DOD field activities, and the combatant commands, along with their subordinate unified commands and respective service component commands. OSD is responsible for assisting the Secretary of Defense in carrying out his or her duties and responsibilities for the management of DOD.These include policy development, planning, resource management, and fiscal and program evaluation responsibilities. The staff of OSD comprises military and civilian personnel and contracted services. While military personnel may be assigned to permanent duty in OSD, the Secretary may not establish a military staff organization within OSD. The Joint Staff is responsible for assisting the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military advisor to the President, in accomplishing his responsibilities for the unified strategic direction of the combatant forces; their operation under unified command; and their integration into a team of land, naval, and air forces. The Joint Staff is tasked to provide advice and support to the Chairman and the Joint Chiefs on matters including personnel, intelligence doctrine and architecture, operations and plans, logistics, strategy, policy, communications, cyberspace, joint training and education, and program evaluation. In addition to civilian personnel and contracted services, the Joint Staff comprises military personnel who represent, in approximately equal numbers, the Army, the Navy and Marine Corps, and the Air Force. The Office of the Secretary of the Army has sole responsibility within the Office of the Secretary and the Army Staff for the following functions: acquisition, auditing, financial management, information management, inspector general, legislative affairs, and public affairs. Additionally, there is an Army Staff, which is to furnish professional assistance to the Secretary and the Chief of Staff of the Army. Headquarters functions to be performed by the Army Staff include, among others, recruiting, organizing, training, and equipping of the Army.the Secretary of the Army and the Army Staff comprise military and civilian personnel and contracted services. The staff of the Office of The Office of the Secretary of the Navy is solely responsible within the Office of the Secretary of the Navy, the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, and the Headquarters, Marine Corps, for oversight of the following functions: acquisition, auditing, financial management, information management, inspector general, legislative affairs, and public affairs. The Office of the Chief of Naval Operations is to provide professional assistance to the Secretary and Chief of Naval Operations in preparing for the employment of the Navy in areas such as: recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping, and training. The Marine Corps also operates under the authority, direction, and control of the Secretary of the Navy. Headquarters, Marine Corps, consists of the Commandant of the Marine Corps and staff who are to provide assistance in preparing for the employment of the Marine Corps in areas such as recruiting, organizing, supplying, equipping and training. The staffs of Office of the Secretary of the Navy, Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, and Headquarters, Marine Corps, comprise military and civilian personnel and contracted services. The Office of the Secretary of the Air Force has sole responsibility and oversight for the following functions across the Air Force: acquisition, auditing, financial management, information management, inspector general, legislative affairs, and public affairs. Staff, which is to furnish professional assistance to the Secretary and the Chief of Staff of the Air Force. The headquarters functions to be performed by the Air Staff include recruiting, organizing, training, and equipping of the Air Force, among others.Secretary of the Air Force and the Air Staff comprise military and civilian personnel and contracted services. 10 U.S.C. § 8014. expenditures. In 2013, the Secretary of Defense set a target for reducing DOD components’ total management headquarters budgets by 20 percent for fiscal years 2014 through 2019, including costs for civilian personnel and contracted services, while striving for a goal of 20 percent reductions to authorized military and civilian personnel. However, the department has not finalized its reduction plans. OSD experienced an overall increase in its authorized military and civilian positions from fiscal years 2001 through 2013, representing a net increase of 20 percent from 2,205 authorized positions in fiscal year 2001 to 2,646 authorized positions in fiscal year 2013. Since fiscal year 2011, OSD’s authorized positions have slightly decreased from their peak levels. The number of authorized military and civilian positions within the Joint Staff remained relatively constant since fiscal year 2005, the first year we could obtain reliable data, at about 1,262 authorized positions, with an increase in fiscal year 2012 to 2,599 positions, which Joint Staff officials said was associated with the realignment of duties from U.S. Joint Forces Command after its disestablishment.Staff trends are illustrated in figure 1. The military service secretariats and staffs also experienced varied increases in their number of authorized military and civilian positions from fiscal years 2001 through 2013.increases are attributed to increased mission responsibilities for the war and other directed missions such as business transformation, sexual assault response and prevention, and cyber. In addition, DOD officials said converting functions performed by contracted services to civilian positions, and the transfer of positions from other organizations also contributed to the increases. However, military service officials said that DOD-wide initiatives and service-specific actions since fiscal year 2010 have generally begun to slow these increases or resulted in declines, as illustrated in figure 3. DOD identified planned savings in its fiscal year 2015 budget submission, but it is unclear how the department will achieve those savings or how the reductions will affect the headquarters organizations in our review. In 2013, the Secretary of Defense set a target for reducing the headquarters budgets by 20 percent, to include costs for civilian personnel, contracted services, facilities, information technology, and other costs that support headquarters functions. DOD budget documents project the reductions will yield the department a total savings of about $5.3 billion from fiscal years 2015 through 2019, with most savings coming in 2019; however, specific details of the reductions through fiscal year 2019 were not provided. Moreover, in June 2014, we found that the starting point for the reductions was not clearly defined so it is difficult to assess whether these projected savings reflect meaningful savings when the reductions are a small portion of DOD’s budget.National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 to report its DOD was required by Section 904 of the efforts to streamline management headquarters in June 2014.DOD provided Congress with an interim response stating that, due to the recent turnover of key staff, it would not develop its initial plan on streamlining until the end of summer 2014. As of December 2014, DOD’s plan had not been issued. Officials from the headquarters organizations in this review stated that they are using different processes to identify the 20 percent reductions to their operating budgets. DOD’s guidance called for components to achieve a 20 percent reduction to their headquarters operating budgets, while striving for a goal of 20 percent reductions to authorized military and civilian personnel. According to DOD officials, this flexibility allows DOD components to determine the most cost-effective workforce—retaining military and civilian personnel while reducing dollars spent on contracted services. For example, OSD officials stated that the Under Secretaries of Defense were asked to strive for a goal of reducing their operating budgets by 20 percent. However, some OSD senior officials stated that it was unfair to smaller OSD offices, such as General Counsel, Public Affairs, and Legislative Affairs, to take the same reduction as the larger offices, and consequently OSD elected to take larger reductions from the larger offices of OSD Policy; Acquisitions, Technology and Logistics; Intelligence; and Personnel and Readiness. OSD officials added that they are in the process of determining how best to apply the budget reductions, preferably through attrition. Overall, DOD projected the reductions will result in at least $1 billion in savings for OSD’s headquarters over a 5-year period, but it is unclear what the size will ultimately be. The Joint Staff projects reductions of about $450,000 from fiscal year 2015 through fiscal year 2019. Joint Staff officials stated that they plan to reduce the number of authorized positions by about 150 civilian positions (about 14 percent of their fiscal year 2013 authorized civilian positions) and by about 160 military positions (about 11 percent of their fiscal year 2013 authorized military positions). Specifics about the plans for the military service secretariats and staffs were also in development, as of December 2014. Army officials estimate a reduction of about 560 civilian full-time equivalent positions in the Army Secretariat and Army Staff (about 21 percent of fiscal year 2013 authorized civilian positions); however, the officials said that the reductions in military positions will be determined through an Army review of military personnel in time for the fiscal year 2017 budget submission. Additionally, in July 2014, the Secretary of the Army announced plans for an additional review to determine the optimal organization and strength and, subsequently, any adjustment of programmed reductions in Headquarters, Department of the Army, that is to be completed by March 2015.