{ "id": "R44389", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "R", "number": "R44389", "active": true, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov, EveryCRSReport.com", "versions": [ { "source_dir": "crsreports.congress.gov", "title": "General and Flag Officers in the U.S. Armed Forces: Background and Considerations for Congress", "retrieved": "2024-03-22T04:03:22.487824", "id": "R44389_10_2024-03-08", "formats": [ { "filename": "files/2024-03-08_R44389_762083d0709b7aad745581a145d0afec2c125c54.pdf", "format": "PDF", "url": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44389/10", "sha1": "762083d0709b7aad745581a145d0afec2c125c54" }, { "format": "HTML", "filename": "files/2024-03-08_R44389_762083d0709b7aad745581a145d0afec2c125c54.html" } ], "date": "2024-03-08", "summary": null, "source": "CRSReports.Congress.gov", "typeId": "R", "active": true, "sourceLink": "https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/details?prodcode=R44389", "type": "CRS Report" }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 590695, "date": "2019-02-01", "retrieved": "2019-12-20T20:03:21.607905", "title": "General and Flag Officers in the U.S. Armed Forces: Background and Considerations for Congress", "summary": "In the exercise of its constitutional authority over the Armed Forces, Congress has enacted an array of laws which govern important aspects of military officer personnel management, including appointments, assignments, grade structure, promotions, and separations. Some of these laws are directed specifically at the most senior military officers, known as general and flag officers (GFOs). Congress periodically reviews these laws and considers changes as it deems appropriate. Areas of congressional interest have included the number of GFOs authorized, the proportion of GFOs to the total force, compensation levels of GFOs, and duties and grades of certain GFOs. \nAs of November 1, 2018, there were 891 active duty GFOs subject to statutory caps, which is 72 less than the maximum of 963 authorized by law. There were also another 29 exempt from the statutory caps. The current number is about average for the post-Cold War era, though substantially lower than the number of GFOs in the 1960s-1980s, when the Armed Forces were much larger in size than they are today. However, while always very small in comparison to the total force, the general and flag officer corps has increased as a percentage of the total force over the past five decades. GFOs made up about one-twentieth of one percent (0.048%) of the total force in 1965, while they made up about one-fifteenth of one percent (0.069%) of the total force in 2018, indicating that the share of the total force made up of GFOs increased by 44%. Some argue that this increased proportion of GFOs is wasteful and contributes to more bureaucratic decisionmaking processes. Others counter that the increased proportion is linked to the military\u2019s greater emphasis on joint and coalition operations, core organizational requirements, and the increasing use of advanced technologies. \nCompensation for GFOs varies. One commonly used measure of compensation, known as regular military compensation (RMC), includes basic pay, basic allowance for housing, basic allowance for subsistence, and the federal tax advantage associated with allowances, which are exempt from federal income tax. In 2019, the lowest-ranking GFOs make about $204,000 per year in RMC, while the highest-ranking GFOs make about $238,000 per year. \nCongress has also used its authority to specify the grade and duties of certain GFO positions. For example, Congress increased the grade of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) from Lieutenant General to General in 2008. Three years later, Congress again changed the law to specify that the CNGB was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whose duties included \u201cthe specific responsibility of addressing matters involving non-Federalized National Guard forces in support of homeland defense and civil support missions.\u201d In 2016, Congress removed the statutory grade requirement from 54 GFO positions.\nThis report provides an overview of active duty GFOs in the United States Armed Forces\u2014including authorizations, duties, and compensation\u2014historical trends in the proportion of GFOs relative to the total force, criticisms and justifications of GFO to total force proportions, and statutory controls. National Guard and Reserve GFOs are not addressed in this report, unless they are serving on active duty in a manner that counts against the active duty caps on GFOs.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44389", "sha1": "756a8a36ff04414ab41247cda20816df1c7aa386", "filename": "files/20190201_R44389_756a8a36ff04414ab41247cda20816df1c7aa386.html", "images": {} }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "https://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44389", "sha1": "96cce454bbff5fbdaf823a23eb18b792c3a0d81f", "filename": "files/20190201_R44389_96cce454bbff5fbdaf823a23eb18b792c3a0d81f.pdf", "images": {} } ], "topics": [ { "source": "IBCList", "id": 4872, "name": "Military Personnel, Compensation, & Health Care" } ] }, { "source": "EveryCRSReport.com", "id": 449949, "date": "2016-02-18", "retrieved": "2016-04-06T17:08:13.883244", "title": "General and Flag Officers in the U.S. Armed Forces: Background and Considerations for Congress", "summary": "In the exercise of its constitutional authority over the Armed Forces, Congress has enacted an array of laws which govern important aspects of military officer personnel management, including appointments, assignments, grade structure, promotions, and separations. Some of these laws are directed specifically at the most senior military officers, known as general and flag officers (GFOs). Congress periodically reviews these laws and considers changes as it deems appropriate. Areas of congressional interest have included the number of GFOs authorized, the proportion of GFOs to the total force, compensation levels of GFOs, and duties and grades of certain GFOs. \nAs of December 2015, there were 896 active duty GFOs subject to statutory caps, which is 66 less than the maximum number authorized by law. There were also another 19 exempt from the statutory caps. The current number is about average for the post-Cold War era, though substantially lower than the number of GFOs in the 1960s-1980s, when the Armed Forces were much larger in size than they are today. However, while always very small in comparison to the total force, the general and flag officer corps has increased as a percentage of the total force over the past five decades. GFOs made up about one-twentieth of one percent (0.048%) of the total force in 1965, while they made up about one-fifteenth of one percent (0.069%) of the total force in 2015, indicating that the share of the total force made up of GFOs increased by 43%. Some argue that this increased proportion of GFOs is wasteful and contributes to more bureaucratic decisionmaking processes. Others counter that the increased proportion is linked to the military\u2019s greater emphasis on joint and coalition operations, core organizational requirements, and the increasing use of advanced technologies. \nCompensation for GFOs varies. One commonly used measure of compensation, known as regular military compensation (RMC), includes basic pay, basic allowance for housing, basic allowance for subsistence, and the federal tax advantage associated with allowances, which are exempt from federal income tax. The lowest-ranking GFOs make about $194,000 per year in RMC, while the highest-ranking GFOs make about $231,000 per year. For the past two years, Congress has included provisions in the National Defense Authorization Act to deny GFOs any increase in basic pay, which is the largest component of RMC.\nCongress has also used its authority to specify the grade and duties of certain GFO positions. For example, Congress increased the grade of the Chief of the National Guard Bureau (CNGB) from Lieutenant General to General in 2008. Three years later, Congress again changed the law to specify that the CNGB was a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whose duties included \u201cthe specific responsibility of addressing matters involving non-Federalized National Guard forces in support of homeland defense and civil support missions.\u201d\nThis report provides an overview of active duty GFOs in the United States Armed Forces\u2014including authorizations, duties, and compensation\u2014historical trends in the proportion of GFOs relative to the total force, criticisms and justifications of GFO to total force proportions, and statutory controls. National Guard and Reserve GFOs are not addressed in this report, unless they are serving on active duty in a manner that counts against the active duty caps on GFOs.", "type": "CRS Report", "typeId": "REPORTS", "active": true, "formats": [ { "format": "HTML", "encoding": "utf-8", "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/R44389", "sha1": "a1f25f12e0f16a89e9f8cd1bfe0c006424eb33aa", "filename": "files/20160218_R44389_a1f25f12e0f16a89e9f8cd1bfe0c006424eb33aa.html", "images": null }, { "format": "PDF", "encoding": null, "url": "http://www.crs.gov/Reports/pdf/R44389", "sha1": "56957a60f4c0412f1548a4d519e5efe533d842cd", "filename": "files/20160218_R44389_56957a60f4c0412f1548a4d519e5efe533d842cd.pdf", "images": null } ], "topics": [] } ], "topics": [ "National Defense" ] }