QUESTIONS SUBMITTED BY SENATOR MAX CLELAND

QOL EQUIPMENT

Senator CLELAND. What equipment or programs are out there that did not get funded (on the unfunded list), that the Service Secretaries think would improve the quality of life or readiness (realistically)?

Secretary CALDERA. Our budget is very carefully balanced. Our priorities revolve around taking care of people, providing for near-term readiness and funding our Transformation. We have significant unfunded requirements of which the $5.4 billion identified in our recent readiness hearing are our most pressing. Specifically we need approximately $582 million to address our most pressing unfunded Quality-ofLife (QOL) programs and approximately $362 million to meet our top near-term unfunded readiness requirements. Also included on the list is funding for the Army Distance Learning Program under Institutional Training. Funding for our QOL issues would provide sustainment for Real Property Maintenance for our facilities and barracks, reduce the maintenance backlog of our facilities, and improve our installations' capability to manage and disseminate information. Readiness funding would upgrade and improve targetry capabilities of training ranges and land, sustain legacy weapon system software and components, improve training area environmental preventive maintenance, improve institutional training capabilities for Reserve component and upgrade simulators and simulations.

Secretary PETERS. As you are aware, the Air Force identified $3.5 billion in unfunded priorities. From a practical sense, everything on our unfunded priority list will contribute to improving readiness-that's our business. Whether we buy new systems, improve older systems, increase spares/munitions inventories, or enhance quality of life and infrastructure, readiness is the final product. However, sustained increased funding levels are needed to ensure readiness/quality of life improvements are effective and realistic.

Secretary DANZIG. Both Services have submitted prioritized unfunded requirements lists for Congressional consideration. From a personnel perspective, the following items, if funded, will have a tangible impact on readiness and/or quality of life for our Sailors and Marines.

Navy

• End Strength and Recruiting Incentives ($77m): These initiatives are designed to offset the difficult recruiting environment and fund 5000 recruiters and provide them with the tools, advertising and support the Navy requires to execute its recruiting mission.

Career Sea Pay ($118.7m): Career Sea Pay reform will restore lost buying power and restore viability of this incentive and provide additional bonuses to Sailors who remain at sea past their normal sea/shore rotation dates. This initiative is projected to generate 6,000 additional man/years of sea duty.

BAH for Shipboard Single E4 ($43m): Accelerates proposed fiscal year 2002 ULB initiative to allow single shipboard E4s with 4 or more years of service to receive BAH when room in not available in homeport bachelor quarters.

Smart Recruiter Initiatives ($40.9m): Funds Smart Recruiter initiatives (cell phones, vehicles, IT 3-year refresh) to facilitate a more productive, capable recruiter.

USMC

• Selective Reenlistment Bonus (SRB) ($4m) Lump Sum Payment: Authorizes payment of the entire amount of reenlistment bonus when the contract is executed. Currently, Marines receive 50 percent of the bonus and the remainder spread out over the duration of their contract.

• Enlistment Bonus (EB) ($4m): Requesting an increase in to keep bonus funding at current fiscal year 2000 levels. Will be used to fill high-tech skills and critical specialties.

• Marine Corps College Fund ($4.4m): Increased from fiscal year 2000 due to program popularity and success in attracting qualified applicants / winning parental support for applicants' enlistment decisions.

• BEQ Enhancements ($82.5): Modernizing facilities to meet updated BEQ standards and implementing Whole Room Concept improvements to ameliorate substandard living conditions at several bases.

• Family Housing Improvements ($56.6): Extend unit life, renovate/replace units that do not meet code and modernize wiring/utilities to eliminate safety hazards and lower long term energy costs; planned for several bases.

• Voluntary Education Program ($4): Provides required staffing for full service education centers that provide counselors to manage VOLED programs at 18 separate installations.

PERSONNEL TOP PRIORITIES

Senator CLELAND. With people mentioned as top priorities, now that the pay raises and pay table reform are out there, what are the Secretaries hearing as issues in this area?

Secretary CALDERA. By providing pay table reform and pay raises at .5 percent above the Employment Cost Index for fiscal years 2001-2006, you have enhanced the quality of life of our soldiers and improve the competitiveness of the military compensation package. At the time of this hearing the Army spring 2000 survey has not been completed and analyzed. We do not expect a statistically significant difference in pay satisfaction for at least six months. However, in the most recent Army survey the following results were realized. For officers the percent reporting the most important reason for leaving the Army as the “Amount of Basic Pay" increased from 5.3 percent in the Spring of 1993 to 10.8 percent in the Fall of 1998 to 11.6 percent in the Fall of 1999. For enlisted personnel the percent reporting the most important reason for leaving the Army as "Amount of Basic Pay" increased from 9.7 percent in the Spring of 1993 to 20.8 percent in the Fall of 1998, to 22.3 percent in the Fall of 1999. We do know however, that we continue to have problems attracting and retaining people in our specialized career fields such as information technology, linguists, etc. We want to continue strong action to keep pay competitive, especially in junior enlisted ranks, and propose pay increases that continue to outpace the recent growth in civilian wages.

Secretary PETERS. We are very grateful for the support the Congress demonstrated last year in approving a 4.8 percent across-the-board pay raise for all members, pay table reform, and the commitment to military pay raises set at .5 percent above the ECI through 2006. The projected 3.7 percent pay raise for next year-1 percent more than prior projections-sends a strong message to our troops and is a step in the right direction. While the feedback on these major pay enhancements is positive, it is still too early to tell how much of an impact they will have on our recruiting and retention efforts. We are optimistic that our retention rates will begin to move in a positive direction, and have seen evidence of that in January and February.

The efforts addressed with the fiscal year 2000 legislation are a strong start. We must continue to invest in our people priorities. Health care is an important piece of the overall benefits package a recruiter can offer a future recruit. Further, Air Force personnel cite medical care as the number one non-pay benefit affecting their decision to stay in the Air Force. Continued refinements to maximize health care services by improving access to care, claims processing, and reimbursement levels are critical.

The Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) program is another important people priority. Therefore, in response to complaints from our people and based on Secretary Cohen's recent announcement to further buy-down out-of-pocket expenses, the Department decided to restore the housing allowances to the 1999 rates in areas where the 2000 BAH rates had decreased. DOD has changed its policies to implement SECDEF direction and will seek legislation authorizing retroactive payment of any BAH underpayment made prior to March 2000.

We will continue, with your support, to pursue people priorities such as fair and competitive compensation and benefits; balanced TEMPO; access to quality health care; safe, affordable, adequate housing; increased support of community and family programs; and expanded education programs.

Secretary DANZIG. We have many non-pay priorities which are discussed elsewhere. In general improving the work environment and the support for Sailors and Marines as they live, work, and fight is imperative.

With respect to pay, I deeply appreciate your efforts to improve the Total Military Compensation package to recruit and retain quality men and women to serve in today's Navy and Marine Corps. Yet, we must remain vigilant to ensure that military compensation remains fair, competitive, and effective in attracting, retaining, distributing, and motivating the number, quality and skill-mix of people needed to ensure optimum personnel readiness.

We are cautiously optimistic that recent improvements will help us attract and retain high-quality individuals in the right mix of skills. While we are hearing favorable comments about basic pay increases and retirement reform, it is too soon to declare victory. Sailors and Marines have received a month and a half of the 4.8

percent basic pay increase and the additional targeted pay raises will take effect on July 1, 2000.

Absent a detailed statistical analysis to compensate for the impact of other influential factors, it is difficult to clearly isolate the effects of the pay triad. Additionally, other forms of compensation remain central to ensuring a fair Total Military Compensation package, including, housing and subsistence allowances, special and incentive pays, enlistment and reenlistment bonuses, and the opportunity to establish long term savings and financial stability through the Thrift Savings Plan.

Sailors, Marines and their families have adopted a wait and see attitude to determine if leadership will continue to press for improvements to pay and benefits; that they are indeed a top priority. Information from focus groups, surveys, and anecdotal accounts reflect that pay remains among the top reasons that Sailors and Marines leave the Navy and Marine Corps, that compensation for the arduous nature of sea duty is inadequate, and that the quality and availability of housing and medical care are still of significant concern. The actions we take this year, or lack thereof, with respect to compensation and benefits will be pivotal in convincing uniformed men and women that the Nation recognizes their significant sacrifices and values their faithful service and is willing to fairly compensate them for it.

We must avoid creating a perception that the improvements in this year's NDAA are a one-time fix. To the Sailor and Marine in the fleet, they must represent a renewed commitment to sustaining an adequate standard of living for the members and families of a smaller, busier, force. Competitive military compensation is crucial to our efforts to fully man, and then sustain the all volunteer force, particularly given the unprecedented economic prosperity our Nation continues to enjoy.

INNOVATIVE RECRUITING EFFORTS

Senator CLELAND. What new and innovative efforts do the Secretaries recommend for recruiting efforts, given that the budget for recruiting right now is hovering around $1.3 billion, and are we still having problems filling the quotas?

Secretary PETERS. We are still experiencing problems in filling our quotas, and if current trends continue, we will miss this year's enlisted recruiting goal. However, we firmly believe that if we hold the course for the next 2 years, we will turn this trend around. Our number one priority is to increase the number of recruiters we have across America. Entering fiscal year 1999 we had 985 production recruiters assigned. Today we have nearly 1,170 and by 1 Apr 00 we are targeting to be at 1,209, continuing to 1,450 production recruiters by 1 Apr 01. We are now analyzing our need to expand beyond 1,450 and anticipate putting even more production recruiters on the street by end of CY01. We believe this will dramatically impact our ability to recruit the right number and quality of accessions needed to accomplish the Air Force mission.

We also directed a senior level review of the entire recruiting process that has resulted in 120 initiatives currently being worked for implementation. We re-programmed more than $8M in fiscal year 2000 and $20M in fiscal year 2001 to fund several of these initiatives, but your support for our Unfunded Priority List (our number one priority is recruiting and retention) would allow us to even further broaden our footprint, incentivize airmen to volunteer to serve as recruiters, and offer competitive enlistment incentives.

The recruiting review surfaced many innovative initiatives to address our recruiting challenges. We are looking to step up our marketing and advertising efforts by expanding our venues to include: increased overall television exposure and in-system high school television advertising; radio; theater; magazines; internet; interactive CD-ROMs; targeted base-level and regional influencer tours; and mobile display vans highlighting the appeal of life in our Air Force.

We greatly appreciate your support for our recruiting efforts and believe all of these initiatives would help us immensely in generating awareness among community influencers and potential applicants.

Secretary CALDERA. Earlier this year, I directed that we look at new and innovative ways to assist the recruiting mission. Three Working Groups met over several months to accomplish that objective. The results are programs and improvements to programs that I believe will help us with our challenging recruiting mission.

Upgrading the Recruiting Sales Force. The Army must be more business-like as it selects, trains and equips its recruiting sales force. Funded programs will enable the recruiter to maintain focus on their accession mission. In order to fine-tune their existing sales skills, recruiters will attend professional sales training courses within and outside the Army. In addition, some administrative support functions will be outsourced to ensure our recruiters spend the maximum time possible in the field. Providing funds for additional uniforms, offsetting parking costs, and increasing

commanders' funds to expand family programs will expand recruiter quality of life programs.

Geographic Positioning of the Sales Force. The Army plans to virtually and geographically position our recruiting force to maximize recruiting efforts in premium markets and tap unexplored growth opportunities. We are already experimenting with cyber recruiting and will redistribute the actual and virtual Army recruiting presence in the general public by funding initiatives that afford our recruiters greater capability and optimize technological innovation. These innovations include virtual recruiting stations a World Wide Web site where potential recruits can explore Army opportunities and entry requirements and complete some of the required paperwork before their first interaction with an Army recruiter and a state-of-the-art, scenario based, multi-level internet recruiting simulation on the World Wide Web. This interactive simulation will enable both the potential recruit and the recruiter to gather information about career choices in the Army. We are also moving and upgrading hundreds of recruiting stations to put the right people, in the right market, at the right time, to attract the right recruit.

Repositioning the Army. The Army is expanding its recruiting incentives by offering motivated young people the opportunity to earn a degree while serving their country. In order to provide this opportunity, we will offer technology-based distance learning_opportunities, degree granting programs and other civilian credential programs. To support their education endeavors, recruits will be provided academic testing, college/CLEP/prep courses, and certification tests.

In keeping with the innovative spirit of reconstituting the Army's recruiting methodologies, on February 3rd, General Shinseki, Sergeant Major of the Army Hall, and I, along with General (Retired) Colin Powell and the Secretary of Education Riley, announced two new educational initiatives for the Army. The two programs, GED Plus, the Army's High School Completion Program, and College First, begin for recruits in the pilot test areas who are coming into the Army this month and will continue as a trial through September of 2003. Both programs build on the Army tradition of providing outstanding military and civilian training opportunities to soldiers while offering America's youth a proven route to success, teamwork skills and selfimprovement.

The first of the two programs, GED Plus, will target young Americans who have had to forego completing high school and who desire to better themselves through education and military service. GED Plus will access up to 6,000 non-high school graduates annually (4,000 for our active component and 2,000 for our Reserve component) who score in the top half of the country on the military vocational aptitude test. The Army will sponsor each applicant's enrollment in a local, attendance-based General Educational Development program and place the individual into the Army's Delayed Entry Program, a program that places the individual on inactive Reserve status for Active Duty service at a later time. GED Plus will not lower standards. The program will enable the Army to enhance an individual's credentials while allowing the applicant to meet our current enlistment criteria.

Our second initiative, College First, offers eligible college-bound men and women the option to enlist, attend college, receive their degree, and then serve a term of service in the U.S. Army. The Army will sponsor up to two years of post-secondary education at a junior or vocational college while the individual serves in the Army's Delayed Entry Program or in a drilling Reserve status.

Secretary DANZIG. Navy is proposing a number of new initiatives in our recruiting and advertising programs in fiscal years 2000 and 2001. Included among them are: Improving and assisting the recruiter force

• Enhancing selection process of Recruiter Selection Team (RST). RST has begun screening all interested Sailors using the Emotional Quotient Inventory (EQI), which identifies traits found in successful recruiters. The EQI, in conjunction with personal interviews by RST members, is expected to reduce attrition among recruiters during their first year of recruiting duty. • Increasing the number of E-4's on Recruiting Duty. Since opening recruiting duty to E-4's in fiscal year 1999, available data suggests that junior personnel tend to be more productive recruiters than their senior counterparts. Therefore, we are changing the structure of our recruiting force, by increasing authorizations at the E4/E5 levels, to take full advantage of this information.

• Implementing Smart Recruiter Initiatives: Through application of fiscal year 2000 Congressional adds and internal funding realignments, Smart Recruiter Initiatives give recruiters the right tools to work smarter and more efficiently. Navy recruiting will seek to build on this Smart Recruiter

concept in fiscal year 2001. Initiatives begun in fiscal year 2000 include the following:

Hiring District Support Personnel. We have begun hiring support personnel to eliminate a great deal of a recruiter's non-productive administrative workload at the district level, thus maximizing productivity of the increased recruiting force. We have identified and hired to approximately 110 administrative support contractor positions nationally.

• Enhancing Hometown Area Recruiting Program (HARP). In December 1999, we expanded our existing HARP program to offer selected and motivated junior Sailors the chance to travel, at government expense, to their hometown areas to assist local recruiting efforts for a minimum of 2 weeks. Up to 800 sailors per month can be funded for program participation. This program has also proven to enhance morale in the fleet as it is a reward for those Sailors just returning from deployment. We have recently improved our officer HARP program, by providing funded travel for participating officers serving in the most critical sub-specialties, including Civil Engineering Corps (CEC), Supply Corps and Naval Flight Officer (NFO).

• Providing Cell Phones to Every Recruiter. Enhanced communications tools allow recruiters to maintain connectivity with contacts while on the road and help Navy project a high-tech image.

• Increasing Leases to Provide Vehicles to Every Recruiter. Funding a 1:1 vehicle-to-recruiter ratio to eliminate non-productive recruiter time due to non-availability of vehicles.

Improving and Modernizing Advertising

• Implementing Recommendations from the Bozell-Murphy Review of Armed Forces Advertising. Navy Recruiting has begun implementing various recommendations from the Office of the Secretary of Defense-sponsored BozellMurphy Review, to improve Navy's advertising program and brand image, to include:

• Increasing market research,

• Reorganizing advertising department,

Hiring a marketing consultant, and

Shifting the focus of and retooling media tactics.

• Taking advantage of Advanced Technology. Navy's fiscal year 2001 budget maintains advertising funding at the fiscal year 2000 level aimed at sustaining current initiatives. We are aggressively pursuing high-tech options, such as:

• Using CD-ROMs for direct mail-outs. We have already embarked on projects focused on attracting high school seniors and 2-year and 4-year college students. We are also developing a project designed to assist educators in influencing students to consider Navy as a career option.

• Expanding Navy's Cyberspace Recruiting Station. We are improving hardware and software capabilities to facilitate searching the web for prospective recruits, posting openings on numerous job search sites, and conducting blueprinting of candidates online.

Developing Online Recruiting Station. We are creating a virtual recruiting station to include capabilities for testing and blueprinting prospective recruits, game/role-playing, chat-rooms, and resource center. It also includes a download center, Navy shopping mall and a self-improvement section.

Improving Navy Recruiting web-site. We are overhauling the Navy Recruiting web-site to make it more appealing and competitive with the most advanced web-sites on the Internet today. • Test Marketing Recruiting Kiosks. Navy has been chosen as the DOD executive agent for developing E-Recruiting, which includes test marketing stand-alone computer recruiting kiosks. The package looks much like a video game, takes prospective recruits through a series of informational screens and gathers applicant lead data. We envision future versions including auto data upload, telephone hot transfer to recruiters and full interactivity.

• Testing Outbound Telemarketing. Navy is testing the viability of outbound telemarketing in specific markets to create program-eligible leads, coordinate national appointment-setting and hot transfer to recruiters. Leasing a 3D Simulator. We are leasing a 20-seat full motion 3D Blue Angels ride to stimulate interest among prospective recruits. • Other exciting initiatives include: