A think tank in Washington, D.C., has recommended the creation of a common costing model to accurately measure the cost of the active-component Army and the Army National Guard so decisions on the structure of the Total Army can be based on proper data.
That’s one recommendation in a report from the Center for Strategic and International Studies released Thursday. The report, “Citizen-Soldiers in a Time of Transition: The Future of the U.S. Army National Guard,” was requested by the Army National Guard and is available here.
The principal author, Stephanie Sanok Kostro, is acting director of the CSIS Homeland Security and Counterterrorism Program. Referring to the current squabble between the Army and the Army Guard, she said, “These tensions are unhealthy” and harmful to national security.
The report recommends a commission to study the Army structure, which is part of the House version of the NDAA. But it also suggests forming a Total Force Task Force led by three two-star generals from the active component, Army Reserves and Guard to offer recommendations to Army leadership.
The second recommendation is for the Congressional Budget Office to devise the common costing model. “The result should be an agreed-upon cost model so that different organizations can no longer cherry-pick and manipulate cost data to support their own arguments,” the report says.
Other recommendations include:
- A review of the reimbursement process and funding amounts when using the Guard for homeland security;
- Maintain relationships between the Guard and its interagency partners;
- Continue the State Partnership Program, but consider how to shift focus to the Pacific region and Africa;
- Recognize the value of using the Guard in long-term overseas deployments; and
- Guard should provide better information on its cyber capabilities so those capabilities can be integrated into Defense Department and interagency plans.
