Posted on: Monday, May 2, 2005

MILITARY UPDATE

By Tom Philpott

The Defense Department has asked Congress for authority to test new promotion, pay and retirement policies on four small communities of officers, the results of which could lead to a "revolution" in officer career management, said David S.C. Chu, the Pentagon's top manpower-official.

The experiments would involve all Army foreign-area officers, about 1,000 total; several hundred Navy acquisition professionals; and a few thousand Navy "restricted line" engineering duty officers, both those involved with ships or submarines and those in aviation.

Chu, undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told a Senate subcommittee that the changes sought could prove powerful for finding better ways to recruit, develop and promote officers.

"It will not change things next year, except for those few officers," Chu said. "But it will, I will argue, have a dramatic, profound effect on what we will all learn together five (or) 10 years from now — and, I think, will produce the next revolution in officer personnel management."

The most powerful advocate for change is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, a critic of the "up-or-out" officer promotion system the military adopted in 1947. Up-or-out was designed to keep the officer corps young and vigorous, and allow only the most qualified to reach the upper ranks. It replaced a strict seniority system that had left much deadwood in the senior ranks of the U.S. military as World War II began.

Under up-or-out, officers stand for promotion at set points in their careers and the percentage promotion opportunity is well known. If passed over twice for the next higher rank, officers are discharged or retired.

Rumsfeld says up-or-out is too rigid and wasteful, as it forces out many expensively-trained and still-capable officers. His staff commissioned the think tank RAND to develop alternatives. The RAND report "New Paths to Success: Determining Career Alternative for Field-Grade Officer" serves as a blueprint for demonstrations the Department of Defense wants to run.

One key feature of the Army foreign-area officer test will be ending up-or-out so that those who are twice passed over can remain in service as long as their skills are in demand, said Bill Carr, acting deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.

Up-or-out is especially inefficient for foreign-area officers who don't begin their specialty training until they are captains and become foreign-area officers as new majors, after immersion in the language and culture of a foreign country. They typically serve as military attaches or military-political officers, on intelligence staffs or as security assistance officers.

Though enormously effective in their niche, Carr said, foreign-area officers see promotion opportunities pinched by rigid grade-structure requirements. Few gain the rank of colonel, and many must retire while their skills are still in great demand. The Department of Defense wants these officers to serve careers of up to 40 years if a major Army command, Army headquarters or the Department of Defense is willing to offer them a "commitment of employment."

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