DOD’s Joint Exercise Program provides an opportunity for combatant commanders to (1) train to the mission capability requirements described in the Joint Mission-Essential Task List and (2) support theater or global security cooperation requirements as directed in theater or in global campaign plans. All nine of the combatant commands, as well as the four military services, conduct exercises as a part of the Joint Exercise Program. The mission for the four combatant commands we visited are as follows: NORTHCOM conducts homeland defense, civil support, and security cooperation to defend and secure the United States and its interests. PACOM, with assistance from other U.S. government agencies, protects and defends the United States, its people, and its interests. In conjunction with its allies and partners, PACOM’s goal is to enhance stability in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region by promoting security cooperation, responding to contingencies, deterring aggression, and when necessary, fighting to win. STRATCOM conducts global operations in coordination with other combatant commands, military services, and appropriate U.S. government agencies to deter and detect strategic attacks against the United States, its allies, and partners. TRANSCOM provides a full-spectrum of global mobility solutions and related enabling capabilities for supported customers’ requirements in peace and war. The key players with roles and responsibilities in the Joint Exercise Program are as follows: Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, whose responsibilities include administering the Combatant Commanders Exercise Engagement and Training Transformation account; Director for Joint Force Development Joint Staff (J7), whose responsibilities include managing the Combatant Commanders Exercise Engagement and Training Transformation account and providing enabling capabilities that support combatant commands’ and the military services’ training; combatant commands, who develop, publish, and execute command Joint Training Plans and joint training programs for command staff and assigned forces; and military services, whose responsibilities include providing trained and ready forces for joint employment and assignment to combatant commands. In fiscal year 2016, the Combatant Commanders Exercise Engagement and Training Transformation account provided approximately $600 million dollars to fund more than 150 training events. Funding from this account covers items such as personnel travel and per diem for planning conferences and exercise support events, transportation of cargo, airlift, sealift and port handling, intra-theater transportation for participating units, consultant advisory and assistance service, equipment and supplies, and operation and maintenance for training support facilities and equipment. From fiscal year 2013 through fiscal year 2016, funding for this account decreased by about $149 million, or by 20 percent, while the number of exercises conducted remained relatively unchanged (see fig. 1). DOD officials told us that in part as a result of reduced funding for the Joint Exercise Program they have at times reduced the scope of exercises or sought alternative methods, such as relying on organic lift capabilities of Service components or partnering with another combatant command to execute exercises. Other factors that could impact the ability of combatant commands to execute exercises include the availability of forces; diplomatic (political and military) considerations; and real world events, such as natural disasters. Though DOD officials stated that these factors are largely outside of the sphere of combatant commander influence and therefore are not included in the original planning of the exercises, officials stated that they use various approaches to try to mitigate the effect these factors have on their ability to carry out their respective joint exercise programs. If these factors cannot be mitigated, the combatant command might cancel a joint exercise, a mitigation strategy of last resort. DOD has developed a body of guidance for the Joint Exercise Program and is working to update a key outdated guidance document that identifies overarching roles and responsibilities for military training in accordance with a congressional requirement in a House Committee on Armed Services report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017. DOD-wide guidance, policies, and procedures addressing various aspects of the Joint Exercise Program are contained in the following documents: DODD 1322.18, Military Training, (Jan. 13, 2009), is the overarching guidance for military training and identifies the roles and responsibilities for training military individuals; units; DOD civilian employees; and contractors, among others. The Program Goals and Objectives document provides guidance for all programs and activities that utilize funds from the Combatant Commanders Exercise Engagement and Training Transformation account. CJCSI 3500.01H, Joint Training Policy for the Armed Forces of the United States, (April 25, 2014), establishes guidance for the Joint Training System—an integrated, requirements-based, four-phased approach that is used to align a combatant commander’s Joint Training Strategy with assigned missions to produce trained and ready individuals, staff, and units. The Joint Training System is used by combatant commanders to execute the Joint Exercise Program as shown in figure 2. See appendix II for a more detailed description of the Joint Training System. CJCSN 3500.01, 2015-2018 Chairman’s Joint Training Guidance, (Oct. 30, 2014), provides the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’s joint training guidance to all DOD components for the planning, execution, and assessment of joint individual and collective training for fiscal years 2015 through 2018. CJCSM 3500.03E, Joint Training Manual for the Armed Forces of the United States, (April 20, 2015), provides guidance and procedures for the Joint Training System. Specifically, it focuses on determining joint training requirements, planning and executing joint training, and assessing joint training. CJCSM 3511.01, Joint Training Resources of the Armed Forces of the United States, (May 26, 2015), provides detailed guidance on joint funding, joint transportation, and joint training support resources for joint training exercises. CJCSI 3150.25F, Joint Lessons Learned Program, (June 26, 2015), provides guidance for gathering, developing, and disseminating joint lessons learned for the armed forces for joint training exercises. Each of the combatant commands we visited had developed their own implementation guidance, which is consistent with DOD’s guidance for the Joint Exercise Program. While DOD has a body of guidance for the Joint Exercise Program, DODD 1322.18 – key overarching guidance for military training that identifies roles and responsibilities for training, including the for the Joint Exercise Program–is outdated. Specifically, this directive assigns significant roles and responsibilities relevant to the Joint Exercise Program to U.S. Joint Forces Command, a combatant command that has not existed since August 2011. For example, according to DODD 1322.18, U.S. Joint Forces Command is responsible for working through the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to manage joint force training, accredit joint training programs for designated joint tasks, and provide Combatant Commanders Exercise Engagement and Training Transformation funds to support the Joint Exercise Program. According to subsequent guidance issued in April 2014, the Office of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was assigned the roles and responsibilities formerly performed by U.S. Joint Forces Command. Additionally, the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, instead of U.S. Joint Forces Command, now administers the Combatant Commanders Exercise Engagement and Training Transformation account, which funds the Joint Exercise Program. In House Report 114-537, the House Committee on Armed Services also noted that DODD 1322.18 is outdated and does not account for significant organizational changes that have occurred within the department—specifically, the disestablishment of U.S. Joint Forces Command and the establishment of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness. Consequently, the report directs DOD to update its guidance and brief the committee on its progress updating the guidance by December 1, 2016. According to an official from Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Readiness, the office responsible for DODD 1322.18, the department is aware that the directive is outdated and is working on updating it but is unsure of when the update process will be completed. Specifically, according to this DOD official, the department is working to determine whether the directive can be updated through an administrative update, which requires less coordination and time to process than doing so through a total reissuance of guidance. When DOD completes the update and includes information on current roles and responsibilities, the key guidance regarding the Joint Exercise Program should be consistent with other guidance. DOD has implemented an approach to assess the return on investment for the Joint Exercise Program. The Director of the Joint Assessment and Enabling Capability office stated that officials from that office provide the combatant commands with guidance for how to develop performance measures to assess the effectiveness of the Joint Exercise Program. Specifically, the combatant commands, in conjunction with this office, develop performance measures using an approach that is aimed at ensuring the performance measures are specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-phased (commonly referred to as the SMART rubric). The Director of the Joint Assessment and Enabling Capability office reviews the performance measures created by the combatant commands against the SMART rubric and provides input and coaching on improving the measures through an ongoing and collaborative process. See appendix III for a more detailed explanation of DOD’s approach for assessing individual joint exercises. The Joint Assessment and Enabling Capability office is working with individual combatant commands to develop measures to assess the return on investment of the Joint Exercise Program using the SMART rubric approach. For example, NORTHCOM officials told us that they are working with the Joint Assessment and Enabling Capability office to develop a better method to measure the return on investment for NORTHCOM joint exercises because the ones they currently use, such as the number of joint mission-essential tasks in an exercise, do not reveal any information that would be helpful for decision making. The officials stated that they are still trying to determine the threshold for the amount of information that is necessary to measure return on investment for their joint exercises.