Military Education: Additional DOD Guidance Is Needed to Enhance Oversight of the Service Academies and Their Preparatory Schools

摘要

The Departments of the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force each have their own service academies that produce a portion of the officer corps for the nation's armed forces. Each academy also operates its own preparatory school, which exists to prepare select students for admission to the academies. The Department of Defense (DOD) invests a significant amount of taxpayer dollars in these institutions. According to the most recently available DOD information, the academies and preparatory schools cost more than $1.6 billion to operate during fiscal year 2010. To ensure the best value for the taxpayers investment in the academies and preparatory schools, effective management principles are critical. These principles include establishing a complete oversight framework, which includes performance goals and quantifiable measures that are linked to clear statements of the organizations mission. Over the past two decades, we have issued many products to help inform congressional oversight of the academies and preparatory schools in response to congressional inquiries regarding these institutions.