The intent of the Goldwater-Nichols Reorganization Act of 1986 was, in part, to reorganize DOD into a more unified military structure. Within that act, Congress included several provisions that specifically address the education of officers in joint matters, their assignment to joint organizations, and the promotion of officers serving in joint positions. The act also established a joint specialty officer designation for officers who are specifically trained in and oriented toward joint matters. Although the act contains a number of specific requirements, Congress also provided DOD with flexibility in meeting the requirements by granting it waiver authority when it can demonstrate justification. DOD approves waivers on a case-specific basis. These waivers apply to a number of the provisions, including (1) the methods for designating joint specialty officers, (2) the posteducation assignments for joint specialty officers, (3) the assignment of joint specialty officers to critical joint duty positions, and (4) the promotions of officers to the general and flag officer pay grades. Moreover, Congress has issued follow-on reports and made changes to the law in subsequent legislation. For example, a congressional panel on military education issued a report in April 1989 that contained numerous recommendations regarding joint professional military education. Among other things, this panel recommended that the services’ professional military education schools teach both service and joint matters and that the student body and faculty at each of the service schools include officers from the other services. DOD has implemented these recommendations. Most recently, Congress amended the law regarding the promotion criteria for officers being considered for promotion to the general and flag officer pay grades. The Goldwater-Nichols Act established a requirement that officers must have served in a joint position prior to being selected for these promotions. The amendment, contained in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002, will require most officers being considered for appointment to this grade after September 30, 2007, to complete the joint education program as well. DOD uses a number of multiservice and multinational commands and organizations to plan and support joint matters. Since passage of the Goldwater-Nichols Act, officers serving in these commands and organizations have overseen a number of joint and multinational military operations that range from humanitarian assistance and peacekeeping to major operations such as Operation Desert Storm and ongoing operations in Afghanistan. The number of joint positions in these organizations has ranged from a low of 8,217 positions in fiscal year 1988 to a high of 9,371 positions in fiscal year 1998. Changing missions and reorganizations have contributed to this variation. In fiscal year 2001, DOD had a total of 9,146 joint positions. Of these positions, 3,400 positions were allocated to the Air Force; 3,170 positions were allocated to the Army; 2,004 positions were allocated to the Navy; and 572 positions were allocated to the Marine Corps. Figure 1 shows that the Air Force had the largest percentage, followed by the Army, the Navy, and the Marine Corps. Officers in pay grades O-4 (majors in the Air Force, Army, and Marine Corps and lieutenant commanders in the Navy) and above can receive credit for joint experience when they serve in the Joint Staff, joint geographic and functional commands, combined forces commands, and defense agencies. In addition, the Secretary of Defense has authority to award joint credit to officers for serving in certain joint task force headquarters staffs. DOD has developed a joint duty assignment list that includes all of the active duty positions in pay grades O-4 and above in the multiservice organizations that are involved in or support the integrated employment of the armed forces. DOD’s policy places limits on the number of positions in the defense agencies and other jointly staffed activities that can be included on the list. The list of joint organizations and demographic descriptions of the officers serving in those organizations are provided in appendix II. The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy, under the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, has overall responsibility for the policies and procedures governing DOD’s joint officer management program. Among other things, the Assistant Secretary is responsible for reviewing joint professional military education initiatives, approving the list of joint duty assignments, reviewing the promotion and appointment of joint specialty officers and other officers who are serving or have served in joint duty positions, and acting on requests to waive DOD joint officer management requirements. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has responsibility, among other things, for implementing DOD’s policies governing joint officer management and for making recommendations to the Assistant Secretary. The service secretaries are responsible for, among other things, supporting DOD policy and for ensuring the qualifications of officers assigned to joint duty positions. These responsibilities are delineated in DOD’s Joint Officer Management Program Directive 1300.19, issued on September 9, 1997. DOD has taken positive steps to implement the provisions of the Goldwater-Nichols Act that address the education of officers in joint matters, officers’ assignments to joint organizations, and the promotion of officers who are serving or who have served in joint positions. In certain cases, DOD has met or surpassed the act’s objectives. However, DOD has also relied on waivers allowable under the law to comply with the provisions. In addition, DOD has experienced difficulties in implementing some of its programs and policies that address joint officer development. Because of these difficulties, DOD cannot be assured that it is preparing officers in the most effective manner to serve in joint organizations and leadership positions. One of the provisions in the Goldwater-Nichols Act requires DOD to develop officers, in part, through education in joint matters. Accordingly, DOD defined joint education requirements in terms of a two-phased program in joint matters. It incorporated the first phase of the program into the curricula of the services’ intermediate- and senior-level professional military education schools. DOD offers the second phase of the program at the National Defense University’s Joint Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. This phase is designed to provide officers with the opportunity to study in a truly joint environment and to apply the knowledge they gained during the first phase of their joint education. DOD also offers a combined program that includes both phases at the National Defense University’s National War College and Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C. The Secretary of Defense is required to educate sufficient numbers of officers so that approximately one-half of the joint positions are filled at any time by officers who have either successfully completed the joint professional education program or received an allowable waiver to complete the education after their assignment. The act, however, did not identify a specific numerical requirement and, similarly, DOD has not established numerical goals concerning the number of officers who should complete joint professional military education. In the most effective model, officers would complete the first phase of joint education in an in-resident or nonresident program through one of the services’ professional military education schools. The in-resident programs are a full academic year in length; officers completing the curricula in nonresident programs will often do this over several years, given that they are completing their education on a part-time basis in addition to their normal duties. Upon completion of the first phase, officers would attend the second phase of the program at the Joint Forces Staff College. The Joint Forces Staff College offers the second phase three times during the year and, by law, this phase may not be less than 3 months. Upon graduation from the second phase, officers would be assigned to a joint position. According to DOD data, only one-third of the officers serving in joint positions in fiscal year 2001 had received both phases of the joint education program. This is due, in large part, to space and facility limitations at the National Defense University schools that provide the second phase. Although DOD assigns approximately 3,000 active duty officers to joint positions each year, the three schools, collectively, have about 1,200 seats available for active duty officers. Furthermore, the Joint Forces Staff College, from which most officers receive the second phase, is currently operating at 83 percent of its 906- seat capacity. Moreover, the number of unfilled seats at the Joint Forces Staff College has risen significantly in recent years, from a low of 12 empty seats in fiscal year 1998 to a high of 154 empty seats in fiscal year 2001. DOD officials cited pressing needs to assign officers to the increasing number of military operations as a major reason for these vacancies. A Joint Staff officer responsible for joint education expressed concern about the services’ ability to fill seats in the future due to the ongoing war on terrorism. Logistics, timing, and budget issues are also making it difficult for officers to attend the second phase of the joint education program. The Joint Forces Staff College can only accommodate approximately 300 students in each 3-month term and does not have the space to receive all of the service professional military education school graduates at the same time. Given that, officers can report to their joint position after completing the first phase and subsequently attend the second phase on a temporary duty basis at some point during their assignment. However, officers and senior leaders at the sites we visited told us that their joint commands cannot afford a 3-month gap in a position due to pressing schedules and workload demands. Officers at the U.S. Forces in Korea posed a slightly different problem. Given its remote location, officers typically serve in Korea for only 1-2 years. That command cannot afford to send someone serving in a 1-year billet away for 3 months. In addition to logistics and timing issues, related budget issues exist. When an officer attends the second phase en route to a joint command, the officer’s service pays the expenses associated with sending the officer to the Joint Forces Staff College. When the officer attends the program midtour, the joint organization pays the expenses.