Federal Manager's Daily Report

In arguing for reforms of civilian personnel policies at DoD, a former official there has noted that employment has increased by 77,000 positions, more than 11 percent, even while uniformed military personnel fell by 8 percent, 120,000 positions.

“DoD has benefitted from precious few gains in efficiency even as the workforce has grown so markedly,” Dov Zakheim, a senior Pentagon personnel official during the Bush administration told the Senate Armed Services Committee.

He cited one reason as inadequate or ineffective training on new developments and technology. He said that much of such continuing education and training is offered not in person but through distance learning courses, “which do not necessarily ensure that students will absorb or retain what they have been taught.”

He also cited the lack of a requirement for high-level education for SES members comparable to that for top military officers.

He added: “The availability of contractors to carry out many of the same missions as the civilian staff‐‐politely termed staff augmentation‐‐has often resulted in civilians offloading to contractors work for which they are themselves responsible, with the result that what is produced is more costly and often, in my experience, less than adequate for the task at hand.”

“One way to help change what might be termed a poisonous symbiosis of DoD civilians and contractors would be to prohibit anyone retiring from the military, as well as any retiring DoD civilian, from serving in a staff augmentation position for five years after retirement,” he said.