National Commission on the Future of the Army (NCFA): Background and Issues for Congress

Summary

Title XVII of the Carl Levin and Howard P. “Buck” McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015 (P.L. 113-291) established the National Commission on the Future of the Army (NCFA) to conduct a comprehensive study of the structure of the Army. The NCFA reported its findings to Congress and the Administration on January 28, 2016, and made a number of recommendations that may or may not be acted upon.

Some have suggested the historical post-war practice of reducing defense budgets contributed to the perceived need for a commission to address proposed changes to the Army. The perceived success of two previous commissions—the 2014 National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force and the 2015 Military Compensation and Retirement Modernization Commission—also likely played a role in the establishment of the commission. Some say controversy surrounding the Army’s 2013 Aviation Restructuring Initiative (ARI) significantly influenced the decision to establish the NCFA.

As part of its final report, the NCFA produced a classified appendix, which is available to those with the appropriate clearance and a “need to know.” The 208-page report contained 63 recommendations for the Nation, the President, Congress, the Department of Defense, the Joint Staff, Combatant Commands, the Army, and Army Service Component Commands. Some of the report’s major recommendations include forward stationing an Armored Brigade Combat Team (ABCT) in Europe; retaining an 11th Regular Army Combat Aviation Brigade (CAB) and forward stationing it in Korea; and recommending the Army maintain 24 manned AH-64 Apache battalions—20 in the Regular Army and 4 in the National Guard.

Major themes of the NCFA’s report include developing “One Army” and the prioritization of training and readiness. Some general observations of the commission’s recommendations include the importance of the NCFA classified appendix; the impact of the commission’s recommendations on the “Corporate” Army; the history and challenges of past and current Army initiatives; and force structure issues outside the Title XVII mandate.

Potential issues for Congress include

to what extent will Congress and the Administration implement NCFA’s recommendations;

how much would it cost to implement the recommendations;

potential difficulties in implementing the NCFA’s recommendations; and

how Congress would oversee the implementation of the NCFA’s recommendations.

The author of this report served on the staff of the National Commission on the Future of the Army from June 1, 2015, until September 30, 2015. The information and analysis contained in this report are derived from open source data. Participation on this commission informed but did not influence the content of this report.