Military Personnel: Oversight Framework and Evaluations Needed for DOD and the Coast Guard to Help Increase the Number of Female Officer Applicants
Highlights
What GAO Found
Department of Defense (DOD) and Coast Guard fiscal year 2010-14 data show an overall slight increase in female officer accessions rates (e.g. the number of female officer accessions during a period of time, expressed as a percentage of total accessions) for all of the Armed Forces, with the Coast Guard having the highest percentage increase. Female officer accession rates for the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force fluctuated from fiscal year 2010 through fiscal year 2014. The Marine Corps had slight increases from 7.6 percent to 11.8 percent.
DOD and Coast Guard Female Officer Accession Rates
DOD and the Coast Guard have not determined the resources and funding to increase accessions of women. DOD has requested $1.36 billion in general for recruiting and advertising in its fiscal year 2016 operation and maintenance budget request. However, DOD and the Coast Guard have not identified resources for all initiatives directed at the recruitment and accessions of female officers.
In response to GAO's questionnaire, DOD and the Coast Guard reported 10 initiatives specifically designed to increase the recruitment and accessions of female officers. For example, Coast Guard officials reported that U.S. Coast Guard Academy admissions officers visit all-female high schools to promote the opportunities available for women at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy. However, DOD and the Coast Guard do not have an oversight framework for recruitment initiatives, to include program goals, performance measures, and resource allocation linked to program goals. One of the five Armed Forces has a goal related to the recruitment of women into the officer corps; however, the others do not. DOD and the Coast Guard also have not conducted evaluations of all 10 initiatives. Without an oversight framework and evaluations of initiatives, which can demonstrate that initiatives are achieving their intended purpose, DOD and the Coast Guard will be limited in identifying which initiatives are the most effective at increasing the recruitment and accessions of women, and in directing limited resources to the most effective initiatives.
Why GAO Did This Study
Since the end of the Second World War, the role of women in the military has been evolving. Changes to laws and DOD policies have either eliminated or clarified restrictions on women serving in the military. A 2011 Military Leadership Diversity Commission reported that women comprise more than 50 percent of the recruiting pool for the officer corps.
Public Law 113-291 included a provision for GAO to review the Armed Forces' outreach and recruitment efforts directed at women's representation in the officer corps, among other things. GAO evaluated the extent to which (1) accessions of women into the officer corps have increased, and DOD and the Coast Guard have determined resources and funding to increase the accessions of women into the officer corps and (2) DOD and the Coast Guard have initiatives and an oversight framework to increase the recruitment and accessions of female officers.
GAO analyzed fiscal years 2010-14 female officer accessions data, reviewed budget reports, distributed a questionnaire to offices responsible for the recruitment and accessions of female officers, and interviewed agency officials about their efforts.
Recommendations
GAO recommends that DOD and the Coast Guard develop an oversight framework and conduct evaluations for initiatives. DOD concurred with the first recommendation and did not state whether it concurred with the second recommendation. The Department of Homeland Security concurred with both of the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of Defense | To improve DOD's management of initiatives directed at increasing the recruitment and accessions of women into the officer corps, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness, in collaboration with the service Secretaries, to develop an oversight framework that includes or incorporates (consistent with applicable law): (1) Service-wide program goals for initiatives directed at female officers' recruitment, such as goals related to the composition of the applicant pool; (2) Performance measures linked to program goals; and (3) Resource allocations linked to program goals. |
DOD concurred with this recommendation. DOD changed their position to non-concur in an email to GAO in January 2020. As of September 2024, DOD has provided no further updates on this recommendation. As of July 2023, DOD stated that their position to not implement this recommendation has not changed. They further stated they are not open to discussing the intent of the recommendation and will not implement it. As we state below, we believe DOD has misinterpreted our recommendation to mean they should set quotas. We have reiterated to DOD that our recommendation to develop an oversight framework does not constitute quotas. As of February 2022, DOD re-confirmed its previous position that the Department and the Military Services have taken affirmative steps to increase outreach to underrepresented groups and create a more diverse applicant pool. However, DOD stated that recruitment or accession goals based upon race or gender, including goals aligned to the composition of the applicant pool, will not be pursued. DOD further stated that due to legal and policy concerns associated with setting quotas, by that or any other name, the Department cannot fully implement the GAO recommendations and will not pursue further action. We reiterated to the Department that GAO's recommendation is to develop an oversight framework to improve DOD's management of disparate military service initiatives directed at increasing the recruitment and accessions of women into the officer corps. This framework could include broad goals to increase diversity with performance measures and resource allocations linked to these goals. In January 2020, we received a memorandum from DOD requesting closure of this recommendation that outlined several steps the department was taking to implement it and attached some Power Point slides as documentation. The slides included information on service-level initiatives to increase female officer recruitment, including initiatives in place before our report was issued as well as some developed after. DOD also provided us a DOD Instruction update requiring a new annual review, including a demographic analysis, of Senior Reserve Officers' Training Course programs. However, our recommendation of a DOD-wide oversight framework would not be limited to Senior Reserve Officers' Training Course program initiatives. Although these initiatives may help to improve female recruitment and accession, DOD did not provide us with evidence showing that these initiatives were developed, managed, or assessed under a DOD-wide oversight framework. We continue to believe that this recommendation is valid.
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| Department of Defense | To improve DOD's management of initiatives directed at increasing the recruitment and accessions of women into the officer corps, the Secretary of Defense should direct the Under Secretary of Defense, Personnel and Readiness, in collaboration with the service Secretaries, to conduct evaluations for key recruitment initiatives to help ensure these initiatives are achieving their intended purpose. |
DOD did not state whether it concurred with this recommendation. As of September 2024, DOD has provided no further updates on this recommendation. As of July 2023, DOD stated that their position to not implement this recommendation has not changed. They stated they are not open to discussing the intent of the recommendation any further. As we state below, we believe DOD has misinterpreted our recommendation to mean they should set quotas. We have reiterated to DOD that our recommendation to conduct evaluations of its various recruitment initiatives does not mention quotas. As of February 2022, DOD re-confirmed its previous position that the Department and the Military Services have taken affirmative steps to increase outreach to underrepresented groups and create a more diverse applicant pool. However, DOD stated that recruitment or accession goals based upon race or gender, including goals aligned to the composition of the applicant pool, will not be pursued. DOD further stated that due to legal and policy concerns associated with setting quotas, by that or any other name, the Department cannot fully implement the GAO recommendations and will not pursue further action. We reiterated to the Department that this recommendation is to conduct evaluations of its various recruitment initiatives to help ensure they are achieving their intended purposes. It does not mention goals or quotas. In January 2020, we received a memorandum from DOD requesting closure of this recommendation. It outlined several steps the department was taking to implement our recommendations and attached some Power Point slides as documentation. However, these slides do not provide sufficient documentation that would enable us to close the recommendations. We will continue to monitor DOD's efforts to implement this recommendation.
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| United States Coast Guard | To improve the Coast Guard's management of initiatives to increase the recruitment and accessions of women into the officer corps, the Commandant of the Coast Guard should develop an oversight framework that includes or incorporates (consistent with applicable law): (1) Service-wide program goals for initiatives directed at female officers' recruitment, such as goals related to the composition of the applicant pool; (2) Performance measures linked to program goals; and (3) Resource allocations linked to program goals. |
DHS concurred with this recommendation. As of August 2018, the Coast Guard provided the following information to close this recommendation: In August 2016, the Coast Guard Recruiting Command issued a "FY17 Operations Plan" that establishes an oversight framework for recruitment, including women, and identified female recruitment goals. The Coast Guard also tracks recruitment performance measures through a weekly recruitment "dashboard" submitted by all of their recruiting offices. If an office is not bringing in a high enough percentage of women to indicate they are on track to meet our service-wide goals, it is indicated by an exclamation point and highlighted in red. The Coast Guard indicated that it's Recruiting Command Marketing Team dedicates a portion of their annual budget and effort to targeting female audiences and the performance measures linked to their marketing efforts can be found in the Coast Guard Lead Diversity and Gender Reports. The Coast Guard stated that resources have been linked to the program goals in the oversight framework include 55 recruiting offices and about 350 recruiters across the nation and the USCGRC Marketing department via a contracted marketing agency.
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| United States Coast Guard | To improve the Coast Guard's management of initiatives to increase the recruitment and accessions of women into the officer corps, the Commandant of the Coast Guard should conduct evaluations for key recruitment initiatives to help ensure these initiatives are achieving their intended purpose. |
DHS concurred with this recommendation. As of August 2018, DHS provided the following information to close this recommendation: the Coast Guard evaluates female officer recruiting on a weekly basis though the Recruiting Office performance "dashboard" and the Coast Guard Lead Diversity and Gender Reports track and evaluate marketing and advertising efforts.
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