growth requested by DOD. This included a corresponding plus-up of 2,562 full-time active Guard and Reserve personnel. Because of the uncertain budget deficit situation when the Congress took action on the defense authorization bill last year, the Congress straightlined the fiscal year 1988 strength authorization through fiscal year 1989. As it turns out, the amended budget for fiscal year 1989 proposes a small increase of 530 in Selected Reserve strength, 100 of which is in full-time support personnel. According to budget documents we have, there are no other substantive proposals to change what the Congress authorized for Selected Reserve manpower and personnel programs last year. Thus, the focus of our hearing today will be on specific issues of program oversight. I want to recognize our witnesses today. They are Hon. Stephen Duncan, Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs; Lt. Gen. Herbert R. Temple, Chief, National Guard Bureau; Maj. Gen. William Ward, Chief, Army Reserve; Maj. Gen. Donald Burdick, Director, Army National Guard; Rear Adm. F.N. Smith, Chief, Naval Reserve; Maj. Gen. J.W. Moore, Deputy Chief of Staff, Reserve Affairs, U.S. Marine Corps; Maj. Gen. John B. Conaway, Director, Air National Guard; Maj. Gen. Roger Scheer, Chief of Air Force Reserve; and Rear Adm. Paul A. Welling, Chief, Office of Readiness and Reserve, U.S. Coast Guard. Gentlemen, I think we originally were scheduled to give up this room within the next hour, but I understand that has now been changed. I understand that you had agreed to enter your statements into the record. I believe that was correct. Is that correct, Mr. Duncan? Mr. DUNCAN. We would be happy to do so, Senator. Senator GLENN. Good. If you all agree with that, or if anyone feels they want to give their statement, fine. We will entertain that. I do not want to ace anyone out on that. Unless you have a particular desire to give your statement, we will enter them all into the record and ask Mr. Duncan to briefly summarize. You can make comments on that afterwards if you like. Then we will move to questioning and then hear any closing comments you may have if time permits. Mr. Duncan, go ahead. STATEMENT OF STEPHEN M. DUNCAN, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR RESERVE AFFAIRS, ACCOMPANIED BY LT. GEN. HERBERT R. TEMPLE, JR., ARNGUS, CHIEF, NATIONAL GUARD BUREAU; MAJ. GEN. WILLIAM F. WARD, JR., USAR, CHIEF, OFFICE OF RESERVE; MAJ. GEN. DONALD BURDICK, ARNGUS, DIRECTOR, ARMY NATIONAL GUARD; REAR ADM. F.N. SMITH, USNR, CHIEF, NAVAL RESERVE; MAJ. GEN. J.W. MOORE, USMC, DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, RESERVE AFFAIRS; MAJ. GEN. JOHN B. CONAWAY, ANG, DIRECTOR, AIR NATIONAL GUARD; MAJ. GEN. ROGER P. SCHEER, USAFR, CHIEF OF AIR FORCE RESERVE; AND REAR ADM. PAUL A. WELLING, USCG, CHIEF, OFFICE OF READINESS AND RESERVE Mr. DUNCAN. Thank you, Senator. Sir, I will try to be brief, and I thought it might be helpful in order for us to be able to spend maximum time responding to any questions the committee may have to just briefly summarize some of the developments that have taken place with the Guard and Reserve in the last few months, I recognize that you may have questions that go to budgetary items. In quick summary, several developments have taken place. First of all, as you know, last October we had our first "no notice" exercise of the President's authority under 10 U.S.C. 673(b) to exercise his right to call to active duty 200,000 members of the Selected Reserve. We think that the results generally are very good. That exercise took place in October 1987. I can speak in greater detail about the exercise should you have any questions. In fiscal year 1987, we also established the IRR screening policy. We have now gone through one complete yearly cycle of that search, something in the neighborhood of one-third of all members of Selected Reserve have been screened. The second one-third is scheduled for this next year. That screening has had some very positive benefits, and we have required a lot of information that we needed. Some of the byproducts include use of the screening as a recruiting tool. We have been able to bring some people into the Selected Reserve after getting them out to their local Reserve Centers. I can talk about this development at greater length should you desire. Another of the significant developments, of course, was the convening of the sixth QRMC, which for the first time is focusing on overall Reserve compensation. We have received an interim report from the QRMC, but the final report is not due until approximately June. I do expect several recommendations near the end of June from the QRMC. Another more recent development occurred on March 3, when I released the results of the first comprehensive survey of the attitudes of members of the Selected Reserve. In 1986 we surveyed 52,000 enlisted personnel and 12,000 officers. The reason I find this survey rather significant is because much of what we did in the way of managing the Selected Reserve in the past was based on intuition, and now we have rather good data that suggests to us what the Reserves think about. For example, their satisfaction with annual and weekend drills, their perceptions of promotion opportunities, their opinions on whether their train ing periods allow them to use their individual military skills, their perceptions of how their employers and their families respond to their service in the Reserve. That is going to be a very helpful management tool. I would like to note for the record one additional matter relating to personnel. I am doing all that I can to encourage the Congress to focus on the Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act, ROPMA, this year. I believe that particular statute will give us the kind of management tool we need to have a good, uniform system for promotion. It will also allow the Department and individual Guard and Reserve officer greater ability to plan careers. By way of brief summary, Mr. Chairman, I think it is fair to say that measured by several different standards on balance, the readiness of our National Guardsmen and Reserves has improved very significantly in recent years. Having said that, and taking due credit for having done a lot of things right, I think we still have several challenges. I think we could summarize it by saying we have made a good start, but a great deal remains to be done. We are ready to tackle those challenges. With that, Mr. Chairman, I have concluded. I will be happy to respond to any questions the committee may have. [The prepared statements of Mr. Duncan, General Temple, General Ward, General Burdick, Admiral Smith, General Moore, General Conaway, General Scheer and Admiral Welling follow:] STATEMENT OF THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE FOR RESERVE AFFAIRS HON. STEPHEN M. DUNCAN Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee: I'm very happy to be here today in my first appearance before this committee as the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs. Under the Total Force Policy, we have increasingly based the national security interests of our nation on our ability to mobilize, deploy, and employ combat ready Reserve component units and members anywhere in the world. Today many of our military contingency plans cannot be executed effectively without committing National Guard and Reserve Forces in the same time frame as our Active Forces. This kind of reliance on our Reserve Forces requires that units of the Selected Reserve, especially the early deploying units, be manned and equipped at levels which make them ready for combat. This has been one of our primary goals and it will continue to be one of our most difficult challenges during this time of severe budgetary constraints. Significant progress has been made in the training and equipping of the Reserve components as the size of our Reserve Forces has increased. I solicit your active support to ensure that we have the resources that are necessary for the maintenance of highly trained and ready Reserve Forces. I also solicit your support of legislation which will help us better manage the reserve officer force. One of the most significant developments of 1987 was the convening of the Sixth Quadrennial Review of Military Compensation on January 1, 1987, as required by law. Reagan, in his directions to the Secretary, stated: President "I am particularly interested The price of this commitment Because this is the first review to deal with reserve compensation issues, we expect to see a significant number of recommendations in the final report. This year we have again submitted a request for legislation which will provide a comprehensive revision to the Reserve Officers Personnel Act (ROPA), which was enacted in 1954. The legislation which we propose is entitled the "Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act" (ROPMA). The legislation will provide a visible, uniform, and improved officer personnel management system for reserve officers. It is closely patterned after the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act which was enacted in 1980 for the management of Active force officers. I will discuss this legislation in greater detail later in my Statement. In the amended budget request for FY 1989, we also seek an additional 395 military technicians. Military technicians are, of course, civilian employees who provide full time support for administration, training and maintenance in selected reserve units. As a condition of employment, military technicians are required to maintain their status as drilling reservists in their reserve unit. The technician program has proven to be a cost effective means for administering the Selected Reserve and I urge you to favorably consider this request. |