CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION At August 31, 1971, there were more than 2.6 million members of the Armed Forces and 1.1 million civilians in the Department of Defense. DOD's policy states that civilians will be used in all positions not requiring military incumbents for reasons of law, training, security, discipline, rotation, combat readiness, or a need for a military background to successfully perform assigned duties. In exceptional cases, such as for operational necessity, local commanders may temporarily assign military personnel to positions in which civilians can be used. In such cases arrangements are to be made to replace the military personnel with civilians as soon as possible. By fully implementing the above policy, the military services can realize two major benefits. First, it will enable the services to assign as many military personnel as possible to combat-type positions and thereby to improve the ratio of such personnel to those in support-type positions. Second, in relieving military personnel from performing duties not requiring their services, military manpower requirements can be held to the minimum needed to protect the Nation's security. The lower these requirements are, the easier it should be to achieve the goal of an allvolunteer force. During the past few years, several actions taken have had major implications for civilians within the Defense establishment. In fiscal year 1966 DOD initiated the civilian-military substitution program.1 The program was short lived, and its objectives were only partially achieved- 1 GAO reviews of the civilian-military substitution (civilianization) program are discussed in two reports (B-146890) issued to the Subcommittee on Manpower and Civil Service, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service, House of Representatives. One report was issued on January 26, 1968; the other, on November 1, 1968. 114,200 military positions were eliminated and replaced by 90,000 civilian positions--when, on June 28, 1968, the Congress enacted the Revenue and Expenditure Control Act of 1968 which placed limitations on the hiring of civilians by Federal agencies. The act of 1968 provided that no person be appointed to a full-time permanent civilian position in the executive branch during any month when the number of such employees was greater than on June 30, 1966. In implementing the act, DOD furnished the services with limitations on the hiring of civilians for full-time permanent civilian positions. The act was repealed by the Congress on July 22, 1969, and Federal agencies returned to the use of personnel ceilings established by the Bureau of the Budget (now the Office of Management and Budget) as a means of managing their civilian employment levels. Acting on a suggestion resulting from our review of the use of civilian personnel ceilings, 1 the Office of Management and Budget agreed to eliminate administrative ceilings on civilian employment in DOD for a 1-year trial period. The purpose of this action was to assess the effectiveness of fiscal and program constraints on civilian employment levels. On January 6, 1972, the Secretary of Defense reimposed ceilings on civilian employment as a result of recent budget decisions. 1 See GAO report entitled "Impact of Employment Ceilings on Management of Civilian Personnel" (B-165959, Apr. 30, 1971). CHAPTER 2 USE OF MILITARY PERSONNEL IN CIVILIAN-TYPE POSITIONS The five military installations included in our review were using military personnel instead of civilians to a greater extent than intended by DOD's policy. Installation commanders were reluctant to recommend the use of civilians in certain positions occupied by military personnel because of limitations imposed by budgetary restrictions and by civilian employment ceilings. Although the services recognize the benefits and importance of using civilians in positions not requiring military incumbents, which is the stated policy of DOD, this policy has not been followed consistently. The military departments have personnel survey teams which periodically review the management and utilization of personnel at military installations. The survey teams, as a general rule, have not adequately considered whether DOD's policy on the use of civilians is being applied properly. MILITARY PERSONNEL BEING USED To use civilians more widely in positions not requiring military incumbents first requires identification of these positions. This identification can be made only by reviewing all types of positions in the Defense establishment and by determining: --The positions that must be filled by military personnel, such as combat and direct-combat-support positions. --The positions that can be filled by either military --The positions for which there is no requirement that they be filled by military personnel. The military departments have not made these determinations, although in 1970 the Marine Corps did initiate a study to determine the number of military positions which could be converted to civilian positions. (See p. 9.) Moreover the departments have not provided field installations with guidelines to be used in deciding whether military personnel or civilians should be used to fill specific positions. At the five installations visited during our review, we found that local officials were not applying DOD's policy to the extent intended. Local officials are reluctant to assign civilians to many of these positions because of restrictions placed on the use of such personnel by budgetary limitations and by civilian personnel ceilings established by higher authority. Even if ample operating funds are available to pay the salaries of additional civilians and if civilian employment levels are below the personnel ceilings, local officials often prefer to use military personnel in civilian-type positions. Local officials are concerned that subsequent cuts in operating funds and/or personnel ceilings may make it necessary for them to release some of their civilians whose work no longer could be performed. This would affect the installations' ability to accomplish their assigned missions. In contrast military personnel provide a stable work force in that (1) they are not affected by cuts in civilian personnel ceilings, (2) they represent, in effect, a source of free labor to the installations because they are not paid from base operating funds, and (3) they are available for emergency work levies, such as overtime and on holidays, without additional compensation. During our review we found no trend to indicate that civilian positions were being abolished and replaced by military positions. We did find many positions authorized for military personnel that could be filled by civilians. Local officials agreed with our views on most of these positions but said that a shortage of base operating funds and |