Brian Bradley
NS&D Monitor
12/19/2014
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has signed a memo instructing the director of the division of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation within the Office of the Secretary of Defense to evaluate whether implementation of several personnel- and resource-related reforms within the nuclear enterprise are having the desired effect. CAPE leadership plans to visit Minot AFB in January and use CAPE’s analysis and tracking to assess the necessity for future trips to nuclear enterprise bases, according to an email sent this week to NS&D Monitor from Army Lt. Col. Joe Sowers, a Defense Department spokesman. CAPE Director Jamie Morin is in charge of appraising the health of the nuclear enterprise, an action which includes tracking and monitoring the implementation of recommendations detailed in internal and external reviews of the nuclear enterprise. Morin will provide monthly updates to Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work and quarterly updates to Hagel.
No Change in Evaluation Mechanisms
To measure the health of the nuclear enterprise, CAPE will utilize existing evaluation mechanisms, including on-the-ground assessments by U.S. Strategic Command, inspector general offices, assessments of wing and squadron commanders, and CAPE site visits, Sowers wrote. To streamline the evaluation process and minimize burdens, CAPE is not changing any existing metrics that measure the health of the nuclear enterprise. CAPE has composed an internal eight-person team consisting of military and civilian members, who all have experience working in either intercontinental ballistic missiles, submarines, physical or social sciences or data analysis. “The team has active-duty military personnel that have served in the ICBM career field and the submarine career field,” Sowers wrote. “Additionally, the team has scientists and data experts to support technical assessments supported by a contractor team who can do deep-dive data analyses, and can interface with other parts of CAPE for subject matter expertise. The diversity of the team has provided a broad understanding of the reviews’ recommendations so that the working group can properly assess the wide range of subjects brought forward by the reviews.”
Working Group Established
In addition to the internal group, CAPE has also assembled nuclear enterprise subject matter experts in the areas of personnel, readiness, the personnel reliability program, inspections/visits, resources and public affairs, to form the Nuclear Enterprise Review Working Group (NERWG). The group has met on a biweekly basis for the last several months to discuss recommendations and determine the best path forward for their fulfillment, Sowers wrote. CAPE is working directly with Navy and Air Force officials, the Joint Staff, and other organizations to collect data on implementing the recommendations, and the team is evaluating all recommendations, which address everything from revamped missileer testing procedures to basic maintenance of launch control facilities, and progress has been made in “all key areas” of the reviews, Sowers wrote. “Currently, the working group has reviewed all of the recommendations in depth, assigned them to the appropriate organizations, and has begun developing approaches,” Sowers wrote.
One Criterion to Evaluate Implementation
Evaluators are using one criterion to evaluate the implementation of all recommendations: Did implementation of the recommendation improve success of the mission, restore critical margin, and ease the burden imposed on the airmen, sailors and marines? The Pentagon did not specify which criteria would be applied toward personnel-related recommendations, but Sowers said the implementation of all reforms was geared toward improving the health of the nuclear enterprise. “There are many personnel recommendations spanning from incentive pay to increasing the number of civilian and military personnel,” Sowers wrote. “Criteria will vary based on the nature of the recommendation.” Currently, CAPE is working with services and other organizations to establish baselines on areas including personnel, resources and culture, Sowers wrote. The services and other Defense organizations are in the process of formulating and executing approaches in line with the recommendations.
NDERG Created
In addition to the CAPE sections, Hagel created a Nuclear Deterrent Enterprise Review Group, which has met multiple times during the last few months. The group consists of Work, who co-chairs the meeting with Adm. James Winnefeld, Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and who sits with Morin and other senior leader representation from the Navy, Air Force, Marines, Army, the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics; the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Personnel and Readiness; the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Policy; the Office of Under Secretary Comptroller; the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs; STRATCOM; the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs; the DoD Chief Information Officer; the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Lt. Gen. Stephen Wilson, commander of Air Force Global Strike Command; Maj. Gen. Jack Weinstein, commander of the 20th Air Force; Maj. Gen. Scott Vander Hamm, commander of the 8th Air Force; Adm. John Richardson, Director of Naval Nuclear Reactors; and Vice Adm. Terry Benedict, Director of Strategic Systems Programs. “In its first meeting, the group discussed and agreed on the process that would be implemented to track and assess the recommendations from the two nuclear enterprise reviews,” Sowers wrote. “In subsequent meetings, the group discussed progress made to date, resourcing issues related to modernization, infrastructure, and personnel, and the analysis process for assessing recommendations.” Sowers wrote that as it continues its analysis, CAPE will continue to make new suggestions to NDERG.
New Approach
Speaking during a Pentagon press conference last month, Work said the more holistic approach toward correcting problems in today’s nuclear enterprise should help the services more than previous approaches. “What we would do in the past is we’d have a checklist,” Work said. “It said to do this. Yes, we did it, we’d check it off. Now, we have metrics for every single one. [CAPE reports] to the NDERG. The NDERG meets on a quarterly basis. We ask ourselves: Are the metrics doing what we want them to do? Are they causing problems that we didn’t anticipate? So the follow-up is different.”
Sowers raised the importance of giving airmen the support they need for mission success. “It is imperative that Department of Defense restore critical margin, reduce the administrative burden, provide appropriate resources, focus, and attention to the sailors, airmen and marines that have stretched themselves to maintain, guard, protect and operate the nuclear enterprise every day,” he wrote. “The goal is to maintain an effective nuclear deterrent and improve the health of the Nuclear Enterprise.”
