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Since 2008, the Air Force has more than tripled the number of its active-duty pilots flying RPAs, which is the term the Air Force uses to refer to unmanned aerial systems such as the MQ-1 Predator. Due to increases in demand, RPA pilots have had a significant increase in workload since 2007. GAO was asked to evaluate the Air Force's approach to managing its RPA pilots as well as their quality of life and promotion rates. For this review, GAO evaluated the extent to which the Air Force has done the following: (1) used a strategic human-capital approach to manage RPA pilots; (2) addressed concerns, if any, about the working conditions of RPA pilots that may affect their quality of life; and (3) analyzed the promotion rates of RPA pilots. GAO analyzed personnel planning documents, Air Force studies, and officer promotion data. GAO also interviewed unit commanders at selected Air Force bases and Headquarters Air Force officials and conducted focus groups with RPA pilots. While the results of these focus groups are not generalizable, they provide valuable insights. GAO recommends that the Air Force update optimum crew ratios; establish a minimum crew ratio; develop a recruiting and retention strategy; evaluate using alternative personnel populations to be pilots; use feedback from RPA pilots; analyze the effects of being deployed-on-station; and analyze the effect that being an RPA pilot has on promotions. The Air Force concurred with four recommendations, and it partially concurred with the remaining three recommendations., Report to Congressional Requesters.

DOD estimates that about 24 percent of servicemembers who die in combat could have survived if improved and more timely medical care could be made available. Because multiple DOD organizations conduct research to develop medical products and processes to improve combat casualty care, it is critical that these organizations coordinate their work. It is also important that agencies monitor and assess their performance to help achieve organizational goals, which for DOD include addressing gaps in its capability to provide combat casualty care. The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 directed GAO to review DOD s combat casualty care research and development programs. This report assesses whether DOD (1) uses a coordinated approach to plan this research; and (2) monitors and assesses this research to determine the extent to which it fills capability gaps and achieves other goals. GAO reviewed DOD s policies and documentation; interviewed officials from DOD and other federal agencies; and analyzed metrics DOD used to gauge the progress of its research. GAO recommends that DOD (1) communicate the importance of early coordination among DOD s nonmedical organizations and (2) develop and implement a plan to determine the extent to which research fills gaps and achieves other goals. DOD concurred with these recommendations., Rept. to Congressional Committees.

The U.S. Military Academy, U.S. Naval Academy, and U.S. Air Force Academy each operate 4-year programs that provide successful candidates with bachelor s degrees and commissions as military officers. In addition to completing their academic courses, the officer candidates who attend the academies each year participate in rigorous military training activities and mandatory athletic activities. In return for their free education, the graduates must serve on active duty for 5 years after graduation. Each academy also operates its own preparatory school.5 The U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School, U.S. Naval Academy Preparatory School, and U.S. Air Force Academy Preparatory School serve as an alternative means for entrance into the academies. Academy officials screen all applicants and identify those who they believe could succeed at the academies but who would benefit from more preparation. The preparatory schools offer a 10-month course of instruction that combines academic instruction, physical conditioning, and an orientation to military life. Emphasis is placed on giving each candidate as much tutorial assistance as is necessary to maximize the individual s potential for success. The student body at each school is organized into a military unit with a student chain of command that is advised by commissioned and noncommissioned officers. This structure is intended to provide students with exposure to military discipline and order.

The Department of Defense (DoD) personnel security clearance program has been on GAO's high-risk list since 2005, due to delays in the process and incomplete documentation. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) conducts most of DoD's clearance investigations, which DoD adjudicators use to make clearance decisions. The Deputy Director for Management at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) chairs a Performance Accountability Council that is responsible for reforming the clearance process. Conducted under the authority of the Comptroller General, GAO's report addresses the following: (1) reporting on timeliness for DoD clearances, (2) documentation completeness for making initial top-secret clearance decisions for DoD personnel, and (3) reporting on the quality of the clearance process. To assess these issues, GAO analyzed data on most DoD clearances granted in fiscal year 2008, randomly sampled and analyzed 100 OPM investigative reports and DoD adjudicative files for clearances granted in July 2008, and analyzed 2006-2009 executive branch annual clearance reports. GAO recommends that, in annual reports to Congress, OMB provide Congress with more information on timeliness and quality and that OPM and DoD address documentation completeness issues. OMB and DoD concurred, while OPM did not state whether it concurred with GAO's recommendations., Report to Congressional Committees.

In 2004, Congress passed the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act to reform security clearance processes. Much of GAO's experience in evaluating personnel security clearance processes over the decades has consisted of examining the Department of Defense's (DoD) program, which maintains about 2.5 million clearances on service members, DoD civilian employees, legislative branch employees, and industry personnel working for DoD and 23 other federal agencies. Long-standing delays in processing applications -- and other problems in DoD's clearance program -- led GAO to designate it a high-risk area in 2005. GAO also has documented clearance-related problems in other agencies. For this hearing, GAO was asked to identify key factors that could be applied in personnel security clearance reform efforts. To identify key factors, GAO drew upon its past reports and institutional knowledge. For those reports, GAO reviewed laws, executive orders, policies, reports, and other documentation related to the security clearance process; examined samples of cases of personnel granted top secret eligibility; compared documentation in those sampled cases against federal standards; and interviewed a range of cognizant government officials., Testimony before the Subcommittee on Intelligence Community Management, Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, House of Representatives.