Title IV - Joint Officer Personnel Policy: Quality Versus Quantity

摘要

The importance of the 1986 Department of Defense Reorganization Act, known as the Goldwater Nichols Act, has been such that congressional and military leaders alike have termed it as the most important undertaking regarding national security in the last 30 or 40 years. Title IV of this Act focuses on the Joint Office Personnel Policies of all the services. The provisions of this Title have far reaching implications in the way the officer corps is managed. The intent of this Title is to improve the quality of the officers assigned to joint duty positions and in the long range, improve service interactions in the joint arena. This study explores the question of whether or not the services are meeting the intent of the law, or as a result of congressionally mandated numerical goals and timeliness, merely the numbers. Discussion is centered on requirements versus availability, what the quality implications are, and how the services are doing in complying with the law. Conclusions are presented and recommendations offered to assess the future implications. (sdw)