The changing terrain
FY17 NDAA
A Tuesday Executive Office memo from the Office of Management and Budget on the Senate’s FY17 NDAA reminded Congress that “any increase in funding must be shared equally between defense and non-defense” as agreed to in the 2015 Bipartisan Budget Act. The memo stated that the president’s senior advisors would recommend he veto the act if it were presented to him in its current form. Some of the administration’s objections include:
- The prohibition on conducting additional BRAC rounds. The administration wants BRAC authorization so DOD “can make better use of scarce resources.”
- Failure to adopt TRICARE reform provisions that were included in the president’s budget, which include a modest enrollment fee for TRICARE for Life and phased-in TRICARE Choice enrollment fees for non-Medicare-eligible retirees.
- The format for continuation pay that will be used in the new blended retirement system (2.5-15.5 months of basic pay at 12 YOS in exchange for a commitment to serve an additional 4 years). The administration would prefer DoD have more flexibility in the timing and amount of continuation pay given.
- Limiting BAH payments to actual expenses, and basing the allowance on grade and location only. The administration also says the plan would penalize dual-military couples, as well as negatively affect some VA educational assistance programs that are based on BAH rates.
- New restrictions on the size of the civilian and contracted services workforces for DoD headquarters.
- Arbitrarily reducing the number of general and flag officers by 25 percent by the end of CY17.
- The mandatory, 25 percent across-the-board reduction in the number of DoD’s Senior Executive Service employees by Jan. 1, 2019.
- Implementing a commissary privatization pilot program prior to assessing the interest of private sector entities. (The full Senate defeated this SASC proposal on Tuesday.)
During Senate funding debates on Thursday, the plan to increase next year’s military pay raise to 2.1 percent and troop size by approximately 27,000 was defeated.
Force of the Future
On Thursday, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter announced new proposals that are a part of the Pentagon’s Force of the Future initiative. These proposals include:
Military Personnel
- Enable experts and specialists in critical skills to join the military at a mid-career level
- Allow officers the opportunity to be temporarily excluded from consideration by a promotion board so they can undertake activities to deepen expertise or pursue enrichment opportunities without adverse impact on career advancement
- Allow promotion of officers based upon an individual’s superior performance instead of promoting only in order of seniority
- Establish programs to build the capability and capacity of military personnel in critical career fields by waiving constraints on officer promotion and management
- Note: These four proposals require legislation.
Civilian Personnel
- Authorize the direct hire of students and recent graduates into the civilian workforce
- Create a two-way exchange program through which DoD and the country’s best and most innovative private companies could temporarily exchange employees
- Raise the cap on Voluntary Separation Incentive Pay (VSIP) from $25,000 to $40,000
- Provide 6 weeks of paid parental leave for the birth or adoption of a child
- Note: These four proposals require legislation.
Sources: whitehouse.gov, defense.gov
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