Professional Military Education

GAO discussed issues relating to recommendations made by a congressional panel concerning the first phase of joint professional military education at four intermediate and three senior service schools. GAO noted that: (1) intermediate service school officials agreed with the intent but not the implementation of residence requirements for attending phase II at the Armed Forces Staff College (AFSC); (2) extensive similarities existed between curricula at the Navy intermediate and senior schools; (3) the Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps intermediate schools did not meet the panel's non-host faculty percentage goals; (4) no school established a faculty exchange program between service schools and service academies; (5) the service schools used civilians and adjunct faculty to provide subject matter expertise; and (6) five of the schools implemented a distinguished graduate program. GAO believes that: (1) it would be undesirable to require in-residence first-phase education as a prerequisite to attending phase II at AFSC; (2) the schools require career military educators with current operational experience to ensure the credibility and validity of the material being taught; and (3) officer efficiency reports should include evaluations of student performance.