[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 26, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70540-70542]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-28308]
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DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Office of the Secretary
Meeting of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air
Force
AGENCY: Director of Administration and Management, DoD.
ACTION: Notice of advisory committee meeting correction.
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SUMMARY: The Department of Defense is publishing this notice to correct
a previously announced notice of a Federal advisory committee closed
meeting of the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force
(``the Commission'') (78 FR 68826-68828, November 15, 2013).
DATES: Dates of Closed Meeting, including Hearing and Commission
Discussion: Monday, November 18, 2013 through Tuesday, November 19,
2013, from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. each day.
ADDRESSES: 2521 South Clark Street, Suite 525, Crystal City, VA 22202
and, as necessary, a secure video teleconferencing line.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. Marcia Moore, Designated Federal
Officer, National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force, 1950
Defense Pentagon, Room 3A874, Washington, DC 20301-1950. Email:
[email protected]. Desk (703) 545-9113. Facsimile (703)
692-5625.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Due to difficulties finalizing the meeting
agenda for the scheduled meeting of the National Commission on the
Structure of the Air Force for November 18-19, 2013, the requirements
of 41 CFR 102-3.150(a) were not met. Accordingly, the Advisory
Committee Management Officer for the Department of Defense, pursuant to
41 CFR 102-3.150(b), waives the 15-calendar day notification
requirement.
Purpose of Meeting: This meeting was held under the provisions of
the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA) of 1972 (5 U.S.C., Appendix,
as amended), the Government in the Sunshine Act of 1976 (5 U.S.C. 552b,
as amended), and 41 CFR 102-3.150. The previous announcement of the
November 19, 2013 closed meeting was published on Friday, November 15,
2013, but is
[[Page 70541]]
modified by this Federal Register notice to acknowledge the closed
meeting was increased to two days whereas it was originally scheduled
for only one day, and to update the November 19 agenda to include
testimonies from the Secretary of the Air Force and Chief of Staff, as
shown in the agenda items in this notice. This meeting was the third in
a series of three meetings held for the Commissioners to consider
information and data from a variety of sources that will be presented
and aggregated by employing several data, analytic and decision support
tools that contain classified information.
Agenda: The updated agenda items were:
--The role of airpower in the post-Afghanistan national security
situations likely to be encountered by the Air Force capabilities and
Airmen and the implications for the structure of the Air Force. This
discussion will be organized into three categories. The ``Away Game,''
will involve emerging demands on Air Force capabilities such as:
Intelligence, Surveillance and reconnaissance, Remotely Piloted
Aircraft, Space, Cyber, Special Operations, and Building Partnership
Capacity. Commissioners will also explore the implications of rising
demands and expectations for the ``Home Game'' in missions such as
Homeland Defense, Homeland Security, and Defense Support to Civil
Agencies. This will include implications for the structure of the Air
Force from the growing threat of the ``Away Game'' involving
simultaneous attacks on the Homeland. The third area of discussion will
be on the continuing growth of demand on traditional Air Force core
functions including: Air Superiority, Air Mobility, Global Precision
Attack, Nuclear Deterrence Operations, Command and Control, Personnel
Recovery, Agile Combat Support, Training and Education, and other
specific mission sets such as security forces, civil engineering and
science and technology.
--Testimony from the Honorable Eric Fanning, Acting Secretary of the
U.S. Air Force and General Mark A. Welsh III, Chief of Staff of the
U.S. Air Force. Their testimonies will provide the key decisions the
Air Force is considering if forced to make sequester cuts based on its
Program Objective Memorandum (POM) for fiscal year (FY) 2015 and the
alternate POM. The Commission is particularly interested in the Air
Force's considerations to change the force mix and capabilities across
the components of the Department of Defense as part of the FY 15
alternate POM and the anticipated challenges caused by those changes.
The Commission is also interested in human capital, specific mission
sets, and trade-offs the Air Force envisions among other major program
areas such as modernization readiness, procurement, manpower, research
development test and evaluation.
--Projections and assumptions about future resource levels that will be
available to organize, train and equip the Air Force. This will include
assumptions about how the Budget Control Act and Sequestration
legislation will affect Total Obligational Authority and associated
planning, programming and budgeting flexibility. Commissioners will
also consider the impact of strategic choices on Air Force capabilities
and force structure options derived from the selection of national
priorities among modernization, technology, recapitalization,
readiness, capacity and force structure. In this discussion
Commissioners will consider the various approaches to how to calculate
and apply cost methods and data to questions of force structure.
--The root causes of legislative and bureaucratic development of the
force structure issues that led to the creation of the Commission in
2013. They will consider how these issues are rooted in the American
militia heritage and the history of the Air Force since 1947. This
discussion will extend to accounting for the socio-cultural dimensions
of force structure issues ranging from the fundamental relationship of
the American people to their military and to sub-cultures within the
Air Force.
--How to institutionalize the shift in the fundamental role of the
reserve components from a strategic reserve to an operational reserve
with associated expectations. Commissioners will also consider the
force mix options they are prepared to assess in terms of relative
weight of force structure in each of the components. Commissioners will
consider whether to recommend that the Department of Defense invert the
force sizing planning paradigm from sizing to meet the expected wartime
surge to an approach that begins with the Steady State Requirement then
resource the components to provide the nation with a meaningful surge
capacity for the strategy. They will also address considerations for
measuring and assessing Active, Reserve and Guard Effectiveness--both
cost and mission effectiveness.
--Alternative approaches to how the nation should direct, control and
guide the active, reserve and National Guard Air Forces, including:
Whether, and if so how, to simplify Title 10, Title 32 and other
governing legislative authorities;
How to re-balance the current mix of Active, Reserve and Guard
components into and across any and all mission functions;
Whether, and if so how, to reorganize the Air Force Active, Reserve
and National Guard into less than 3 components;
Can the Air Force move to a periodic readiness schedule without
creating a ``hollow force;''
Does component ``ownership'' of aircraft matter anymore and how can
the Associate Unit paradigm be adapted to the future;
Approaching future force integration of new systems capabilities by
means of a Concurrent Proportional resourcing method across the
components to replace today's priority of equipping the Active
Component first;
Accelerating the adoption of a ``Continuum of Service'' model to
facilitate the ability of Airmen to move from any component into
another at multiple points in their career path without prejudice;
Enhancing the total force through equalized opportunities across
the components for professional and technical education and shared
experiences.
Recognizing in promotion and selection processes differing but
equivalent ends, ways, and means of professional development
Fundamental shift in policy goals for ``Deploy-to-Dwell,''
``Mobilization-to-Dwell,'' and associated metrics for the post-
Afghanistan period, as well as how deployment credit will be accounted.
Reconsider the nation's needs for Overseas Basing and the capacity
of continental United States' infrastructure afforded by investments in
Reserve and Guard basing capacities available to the Total Force.
Meeting Accessibility: In accordance with section 10(d) of the
FACA, 5 U.S.C. 552b, and 41 CFR 102-3.155, the DoD determined that the
meeting scheduled for November 18-19, 2013 was closed to the public in
its entirety. Specifically, the Director of Administration and
Management, with the coordination of the DoD FACA Attorney, has
determined in writing that this meeting was closed to the public
because it
[[Page 70542]]
discussed classified information and matters covered by 5 U.S.C.
552b(c)(1).
Written Comments: Pursuant to 41 CFR 102-3.105(j) and 102-3.140 and
section 10(a)(3) of the FACA, the public or interested organizations
may submit written comments to the Commission in response to the stated
agenda of the open and/or closed meeting or the Commission's mission.
The Designated Federal Officer (DFO) will review all submitted written
statements before forwarding to the Commission. Written comments should
be submitted to Mrs. Marcia Moore, DFO, via facsimile or electronic
mail, the preferred modes of submission. Each page of the comment must
include the author's name, title or affiliation, address, and daytime
phone number. All contact information may be found in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section. While written comments are forwarded to
the Commissioners upon receipt, note that all written comments on the
Commission's charge, as described in the ``Background'' section, must
be received by November 29, 2013, to be considered by the Commissioners
for the final report. The postmark deadline to mail comments was
November 8, 2013.
Background
The National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force was
established by the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year
2013 (Pub. L. 112-239). The Department of Defense sponsor for the
Commission is the Director of Administration and Management, Mr.
Michael L. Rhodes. The Commission is tasked to submit a report,
containing a comprehensive study and recommendations, by February 1,
2014 to the President of the United States and the Congressional
defense committees. The report will contain a detailed statement of the
findings and conclusions of the Commission, together with its
recommendations for such legislation and administrative actions it may
consider appropriate in light of the results of the study. The
comprehensive study of the structure of the U.S. Air Force will
determine whether, and how, the structure should be modified to best
fulfill current and anticipated mission requirements for the U.S. Air
Force in a manner consistent with available resources.
The evaluation factors under consideration by the Commission are
for a U.S. Air Force structure that--(a) meets current and anticipated
requirements of the combatant commands; (b) achieves an appropriate
balance between the regular and reserve components of the Air Force,
taking advantage of the unique strengths and capabilities of each; (c)
ensures that the regular and reserve components of the Air Force have
the capacity needed to support current and anticipated homeland defense
and disaster assistance missions in the United States; (d) provides for
sufficient numbers of regular members of the Air Force to provide a
base of trained personnel from which the personnel of the reserve
components of the Air Force could be recruited; (e) maintains a
peacetime rotation force to support operational tempo goals of 1:2 for
regular members of the Air Forces and 1:5 for members of the reserve
components of the Air Force; and (f) maximizes and appropriately
balances affordability, efficiency, effectiveness, capability, and
readiness.
Dated: November 21, 2013.
Aaron Siegel,
Alternate OSD Federal Register Liaison Officer, Department of Defense.
[FR Doc. 2013-28308 Filed 11-25-13; 8:45 am]
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