INDEPENDENT STUDY OF JOINT OFFICER MANAGEMENT AND JOINT PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION REFORMS.

SEC. 526. INDEPENDENT STUDY OF JOINT OFFICER MANAGEMENT AND JOINT PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION REFORMS. (a) Study.—The Secretary of Defense shall provide for an independent study of the joint officer management system and the joint professional military education system. The Secretary shall ensure that the entity conducting the study is provided such information and support as required. The Secretary shall include in the contract for the study a requirement that the entity conducting the study submit a report to Congress on the study not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this Act. (b) Matters To Be Included With Respect to Joint Officer Management.—With respect to the joint officer management system, the entity conducting the independent study shall provide for the following: (1) Assessment of implications for joint officer education, development, and management that would result from proposed joint organizational operational concepts (such as standing joint task forces) and from emerging officer management and personnel reforms (such as longer careers and more stabilization), that are under consideration by the Secretary of Defense. (2) Assessment of the effectiveness of the current joint officer management system to develop and use joint specialty 115 STAT. 1100qualified officers in meeting both current and future requirements for joint specialty officers. (3) Recommendations, based on empirical and other data, to improve the effectiveness of the joint officer management system, especially with regard to the following: (A) The proper mix and sequencing of education assignments and experience assignments (to include, with respect to both types of assignments, consideration of the type and quality, and the length, of such assignments) to qualify an officer as a joint specialty officer, as well as the implications of adopting a variable joint duty tour length and the advisability and implications of a system of qualifying officers as joint specialty officers that uses multiple shorter qualification tracks to selection as a joint specialty officer than are now codified. (B) The system of using joint specialty officers, including the continued utility of such measures as— (i) the required fill of positions on the joint duty assignment list, as specified in paragraphs (1) and (4) of section 661(d) of title 10, United States Code; (ii) the fill by such officers of a required number of critical billets, as prescribed by section 661(d)(2) of such title; (iii) the mandated fill by general and flag officers of a minimum number of critical billets, as prescribed by section 661(d)(3) of such title; and (iv) current promotion policy objectives for officers with the joint specialty, officers serving on the Joint Staff, and officers serving in joint duty assignment list positions, as prescribed by section 662 of such title. (C) Changes in policy and law required to provide officers the required joint specialty qualification before promotion to general or flag officer grade. (D) A determination of the number of reserve component officers who would be qualified for designation as a joint specialty officer by reason of experience or education if the standards of existing law, including waiver authorities, were applied to them, and recommendations for a process for qualifying and employing future reserve component officers as joint specialty officers. (c) Matters To Be Included With Respect to Joint Professional Military Education.—With respect to the joint professional military education system, the entity conducting the independent study shall provide for the following: (1) The number of officers who under the current system (A) qualified as joint specialty officers by attending joint professional military education programs before their first joint duty assignment, (B) qualified as joint specialty officers after arriving at their first joint duty assignment but before completing that assignment, and (C) qualified as joint specialty officers without any joint professional military education. (2) Recommended initiatives (include changes in officer personnel management law, if necessary) to provide incentives and otherwise facilitate attendance at joint professional military education programs before an officer’s first joint duty assignment. 115 STAT. 1101 (3) Recommended goals for attendance at the Joint Forces Staff College en route to a first joint duty assignment. (4) An assessment of the continuing utility of statutory requirements for use of officers following joint professional military education, as prescribed by section 662(d) of title 10,United States Code. (5) Determination of whether joint professional military education programs should remain principally an in-resident, multi-service experience and what role non-resident or distributive learning can or should play in future joint professional military education programs. (6) Examination of options for the length of and increased capacity at Joint Forces Staff College, and whether other in-resident joint professional military education sources should be opened, and if opened, how they might be properly accredited and overseen to provide instruction at the level of the program designated as “joint professional military education”. (d) Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff.—With respect to the roles of the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the entity conducting the independent study shall— (1) provide for an evaluation of the current roles of the Secretary of Defense, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and joint staff in law, policy, and implementation with regard to establishing and maintaining oversight of joint officer management, career guidelines, and joint professional military education; and (2) make recommendations to improve and strengthen those roles. (e) Requirements fob Study Entity.—In providing for the independent study required by subsection (a), the Secretary of Defense shall ensure that the entity conducting the study— (1) is not a Department of Defense organization; and (2) shall, at a minimum, involve in the study, in an integral way, the following persons: (A) The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and available former Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (B) Members and former members of the Joint Staff, the Armed Forces, the Congress, and congressional staff who are or who have been significantly involved in the development, implementation, or modification of joint officer management and joint professional military education. (C) Experts in joint officer management and education from civilian academic and research centers.