Military Readiness: DOD Assessment and Reporting Requirements

October 26, 2022

Military Readiness: DOD Assessment and Reporting

Requirements

Military readiness plays an important role in congressional

decision-making on a wide array of national security issues.

To inform its law-making and oversight activities, Congress

requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to regularly

assess and report on the readiness of the armed services.

Defining Readiness

Although readiness lacks a statutory definition, DOD’s

Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms defines it as

“the ability of military forces to fight and meet the demands

of assigned missions.” Similarly, Chairman of the Joint

Chiefs of Staff Instruction 3100.01E, Joint Strategic

Planning System, refers to readiness as the “ability of the

Joint Force to meet immediate contingency and warfighting

challenges while preparing for future challenges.”

These definitions allow for broad interpretation, but many

analysts use the term more narrowly to refer to the

capability of a given unit or weapon system to successfully

perform the specific functions for which it was designed.

Readiness, according to this usage, represents the military’s

ability to execute national strategy assuming size, structure,

and type of equipment are held constant; it can therefore be

understood largely as a function of manning and training

level (for personnel) or availability and maintenance

condition (for materiel).

This usage, however, does not encompass all the senses in

which DOD or Congress uses the term “readiness.” In

addition to the expansive definitions cited above, readiness

is also used to signify specific dimensions of preparedness

(e.g. “operational readiness,” “materiel readiness,”

“medical readiness”). For a more extensive conceptual

discussion of readiness, see CRS Report R46559, The

Fundamentals of Military Readiness.

military is removing parts from one vehicle, vessel, or

aircraft to render a different one operational (sometimes

referred to as ‘cannibalization’).

To meet the requirements of 10 U.S.C. §117, DOD uses the

Defense Readiness Reporting System (DRRS). DRRS

aggregates readiness information and related reporting

submitted by commanders, allowing the analysis of

resourcing and training (‘C-levels’) and mission capability

(‘Y/Q/N assessment’) of units across the services (see

Table 1).

Table 1. DRRS Readiness Ratings and Definitions

Resourcing and Training

Rating

Definition

C-1

The unit possesses the required resources and is trained to

undertake the full wartime mission(s) for which it is

organized or designed.

C-2

The unit possesses the required resources and is trained to

undertake most of the wartime mission(s) for which it is

organized or designed.

C-3

The unit possesses the required resources and is trained to

undertake many, but not all of the wartime mission(s)

for which it is organized or designed.

C-4

The unit requires additional resources or training to

undertake its wartime mission(s), but may be directed to

undertake portions with on-hand resources.

C-5

The unit is undergoing a Service, Combatant Commander,

Agency, or other DOD-directed resource action and is

not prepared to undertake the wartime missions for

which it is organized or designed.

Comprehensive Readiness

Mission Capability

To provide a useful picture of U.S. military readiness as a

whole, Congress requires the Secretary of Defense and the

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) to assess and

report readiness across the armed services regularly.

Secretary of Defense Responsibilities

Title 10, Section 117 of the U.S. Code (U.S.C.) requires the

Secretary of Defense to establish and maintain a uniform

reporting system that measures “in an objective, accurate,

and timely manner” the military’s ability to execute the

National Security Strategy, the Defense Planning Guidance,

and the National Military Strategy. At a minimum, the

system is required to measure unit readiness, training

establishment capability, and defense infrastructure

capability, as well as any “critical warfighting

deficiencies.” It must also measure the extent to which the

Rating

Definition

Y

Unit can accomplish the full task to established standards

and conditions.

Q

Unit can accomplish all or most of the task to standard

under most conditions.

N

Unit is unable to accomplish the task to prescribed

standard and conditions at this time.

Source: Government Accountability Office, Military Readiness:

Department of Defense Domain Readiness Varied from Fiscal Year 2017

through Fiscal Year 2019, GAO-21-279, April 2021, pp. 5-6.

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Military Readiness: DOD Assessment and Reporting Requirements

Per 10 U.S.C. §482, DOD is also required to communicate

its findings to Congress at regular intervals. No later than

30 days after the second and fourth quarter of the calendar

year, DOD must submit to Congress the Semi-annual

Readiness Report (SRRC), which summarizes:

 any identified readiness deficiencies;

 mitigation strategies, timelines, costs, and legislative

remedies to address deficiencies;

 combat readiness ratings and trends for key force

elements;

 the readiness of supporting capabilities (e.g.,

infrastructure, prepositioned materiel);

 the readiness of combat support agencies;

 select incidents causing injury or government property

damage;

 the extent of vehicle, vessel, and aircraft

‘cannibalization;’ and

 assignments of military personnel to civilian functions.

The Secretary of Defense is also required by 10 U.S.C.

§482 to brief Congress no later than 30 days after the first

and third quarter of the calendar year on any changes to

readiness elements since the last SRRC submission.

CJCS Responsibilities

Title 10, Section 153 of the U.S. Code assigns six primary

responsibilities to the CJCS, one of which is to assess

“comprehensive joint readiness.” This role, in turn, has five

components: 1) evaluating joint force preparedness; 2)

assessing risks from readiness shortfalls; 3) advising the

Secretary on joint capability deficiencies and strengths; 4)

advising the Secretary on requirements for non-DOD

support; and 5) developing a uniform system to assess

combatant command readiness.

The CJCS accomplishes these assessment responsibilities

through the Chairman’s Readiness System (CRS), a

framework that provides policy and procedures for

assessing and reporting unit, operational, and strategic-level

readiness. The CRS’ principal output is the Joint Force

Readiness Review (JFFR), a semi-annual assessment of the

capabilities of the armed services, combat support agencies,

operational contract support, and the combatant commands

to execute wartime missions. The JFFR is closely related to

other DOD readiness assessment efforts, drawing data from

DRRS and directly informing the SRRC.

Per 10 U.S.C. §482, the CJCS must provide the JFFR to

Congress no later than 30 days after the first and third

quarter of each calendar year. The CJCS must also address

the readiness deficiencies identified in the JFFR as part of

the Annual Report on Combatant Command Requirements

required by 10 U.S.C. §153(c).

Materiel Readiness

In addition to assessing military readiness as a whole, DOD

is required to assess the readiness of its weapon systems.

Materiel Readiness Metrics and Objectives

Per 10 U.S.C. §118, DOD component heads must develop

and apply metrics and objectives assessing the role of

equipment in overall readiness. For all major weapon

systems, these metrics and objectives must address:

materiel reliability, or the probability that a weapon

system will perform without failure over a specified

interval; materiel availability, or the percentage of weapon

systems capable of performing an assigned mission;

operational capability, or the assessed ability of a weapon

system and its subsystems to perform its assigned mission;

and operational availability, or the percentage of time a

weapon system is operationally capable. The statute also

requires the annual submission of this assessment to

Congress.

INSURV Annual Report

The Navy is further required by 10 U.S.C. §8674 to report

the “material readiness” of its vessels to Congress annually.

This report is informed by ship inspections conducted by

the Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) and must

include a summary of overall material readiness, the

number and types of ships inspected over the preceding

year, and material readiness trends by functional area over

the preceding five years.

Considerations for Congress

 Utility of current reporting information. The utility of

readiness information to Congress depends on the

accuracy and relevance of DOD metrics, as well as the

clarity of reporting products. Both dimensions have

been subject to scrutiny: a 2021 GAO report identified

DOD’s lack of metrics for measuring readiness by

operational domain as an issue, while a 2019 GAO

report found that DOD’s strategic analytic approach

tended to create products that were “cumbersome and

inflexible.” Especially in view of the considerable

length and classified nature of much readiness reporting,

Congress may consider whether changes to DOD

reporting requirements could improve the quality and

utility of the information it receives.

 Definitional ambiguity. DOD uses the term “readiness”

in different and sometimes inconsistent senses. In its

broadest usage, readiness is effectively synonymous

with capability, while in narrower applications it is one

of several constituent elements of capability (alongside

force structure, modernization, etc.). Congress may

consider whether statutorily defining readiness would

improve its understanding and decision-making

regarding the condition of the armed services.

 DOD fulfillment of reporting requirements. Given the

amount of readiness information DOD is required to

collect, analyze, and communicate, Congress may

review the extent to which DOD is fulfilling its

reporting responsibilities, particularly for newer

requirements (e.g., materiel readiness metrics and

objectives established by 10 U.S.C. §118).

Luke A. Nicastro, Analyst in U.S. Defense Infrastructure

Policy

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Military Readiness: DOD Assessment and Reporting Requirements

IF12240

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