[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]
BILLING CODE 5001-06-P