DOD Struggling to Improve Readiness in Every Domain

The Defense Department has regained some lost readiness after two decades of continuous combat, but still has more work to do, according to a new report from the Government Accountability Office. “Nearly two decades of conflict has degraded U.S. military readiness,” wrote report author Diana Maurer, GAO’s director of Defense Capabilities and Management. The 2019 National Defense Authorization Act required the Pentagon to track readiness by domain—air, land, sea, space, and cyber—rather than by individual service branch. GAO found readiness improved for land forces, decreased for sea forces, and was mixed in air, space, and cyber. The public report released April 7 is thin on specifics, however, as much of the data included in the classified version provided to Congress was redacted.