National

DOD ACTIVE-DUTY
Security RECRUITMENT AND
RETENTION CHALLENGES
MARCH 2023

THE BIG PICTURE

Ensuring the United States has a sufficient number of qualified active-duty military
personnel is a matter of national security. To maintain its active-duty levels, the
Department of Defense (DOD) must balance recruiting new members and retaining
already trained service members. However, DOD is facing its most challenging
recruitment environment in 50 years. GAO’s body of work on DOD’s efforts to recruit
and retain military personnel has identified challenges in the following three key areas:
(1) the availability of recruitment and retention-related data (2) the use of goals, plans,
and strategies; and (3) the monitoring of plans and strategies for effectiveness.
IMPLICATIONS
CHALLENGES TO NATIONAL SECURITY According to DOD, only about one
DOD’s ability to recruit and retain qualified enlisted personnel and officers is critical to in four people in the United States
maintaining unit readiness and morale, ensuring sufficient levels of experienced leaders, between the ages of 17 and 24 are able
and avoiding unnecessary costs. A number of factors influence DOD’s ability to recruit to meet the recruitment requirements
and retain active-duty personnel. for military
Commercial sectorservice. These include, for
Factors Influencing Active-Duty Personnel Recruitment and Retention employment education and physical fitness
example,
standards.
opportunities
Recruitment Retention DOD faces a number of challenges in
Commercial sector retaining active-duty personnel, such as
Age employment opportunities quality of life issues and opportunities
for commercial sector employment.
Aptitude Dependent care
Moreover, losing personnel is also
Citizenship Deployments costly for DOD. In some career fields,
DOD makes substantial investments
Commercial sector both in terms of the length of time
employment Family planning
opportunities and cost of training personnel. For
example, the cost to train some cyber
Criminal history Job dissatisfaction professionals is estimated at $220,000
to $500,000 over a period of 1 to 3
years.
Declining interest Organizational
in military culture By addressing the issues GAO
has identified, DOD will be better
Education level Quality of life positioned to recruit and retain a
Medical qualifications skilled and knowledgeable active-duty
and substance abuse Sexual harassment
workforce that is ready to respond to
and sexual assault
Physical fitness, uncertainties in the national security
Work schedules
height and weight Total environment.
active-duty
force of
1.3 million
personnel

Source: GAOanalysis
Source: GAO Department| of
analysisofofXXXXXXXX. Defense, Congressional Research Service, and GAO information. | GAO-23-106551
GAO-23-106551

United States Government Accountability Office GAO-23-106551 National Security

GAO RECOMMENDATIONS
GAO Open Recommendations Related to DOD Active-Duty Recruitment and Retention as of March 2023

COLLECT AND TRACK DATA

Army, Air Force, and Marine Corps should track cyber personnel data by work role.
The Department of Defense Army, Navy, and Air Force should incorporate data on civilian pay for comparable
(DOD) has not collected or occupations to guide retention bonus determinations for enlisted medical personnel.
tracked sufficient data to help Navy should include training cost information in its decision-making process for awarding
support decisions related to its retention bonuses for enlisted medical personnel.
recruitment and retention efforts. DOD should collect information on the cost to replace current personnel, acceptance rates
for retention bonuses, and private sector wages for military physicians and dentists.

DEVELOP AND USE PLANS, GOALS, AND STRATEGIES

Army and Marine Corps should clearly define active-duty service obligations for certain
DOD does not have sufficient cyber personnel training.
plans, goals, and strategies The six armed forces’ tattoo policies should be updated to clarify waiver policies and provide
to guide its recruitment and clear guidance on waiver eligibility and related processes.
retention efforts. Army, Navy, and Air Force should develop annual retention goals, by skill level, for enlisted
medical personnel.
Navy should develop plans with clearly defined goals, performance measures, and timelines
for all Surface Warfare Officers and for female Surface Warfare Officers.
DOD should provide guidance to the military services to develop plans—with clearly defined
goals, performance measures, and timeframes—for female active-duty service member
recruitment and retention efforts; and the services should develop such plans accordingly.
Air Force should analyze staffing levels by officer grade to target retention bonuses to the
appropriate pilot communities.

MONITOR THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EFFORTS

Navy should evaluate the effectiveness of the Surface Warfare Officer career path, training,
DOD is not positioned to fully and policies.
monitor the effectiveness of Air Force should establish a comprehensive metric for tracking remotely piloted aircraft
its recruitment and retention personnel accession and retention efforts.
efforts. DOD should review its special and incentive pay programs for key principles of effective
human capital management and establish measures for the efficient use of resources.
DOD should routinely assess the effect of non-monetary incentive approaches, such as
assignment flexibility and educational opportunities.
Source: GAO. | GAO-23-106551

ABOUT GAO
The Government Accountability Office, the audit, evaluation, and investigative arm For more information about this Snapshot, contact:
of Congress, exists to support Congress in meeting its constitutional responsibilities Brenda S. Farrell, Director, Defense Capabilities and Management
and to help improve the performance and accountability of the federal government [email protected], (202) 512-3604
for the American people.
Staff acknowledgments: Lori Atkinson, Jennifer Weber, Molly Callaghan,
The underlying work supporting this product was conducted in accordance with Amie Lesser, Lillian I. Ofili, and Lillian Moyano Yob.
Generally Accepted Government Auditing Standards.
A. Nikki Clowers, Managing Director, Congressional Relations
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Sources: danielfela/stock.adobe.com (cover photo).

GAO-23-106551 National Security