Military Personnel: Progress Made in Implementing Recommendations
to Reduce Domestic Violence, but Further Management Action Needed
(24-MAY-06, GAO-06-540).					 
                                                                 
Due to concerns about domestic violence in the military and its  
adverse effect on mission readiness, Congress required the	 
Department of Defense (DOD) to establish a task force to assess  
the services' response to domestic violence and recommend	 
improvements. The task force issued three reports containing 194 
recommendations. The Fiscal Year 2004 National Defense		 
Authorization Act required GAO to review DOD's progress in	 
implementing the recommendations. This report discusses (1) DOD's
ability to report on domestic violence incidents and disciplinary
actions, (2) the resources DOD has provided to implement the	 
recommendations, and (3) DOD's specific actions to ensure victim 
confidentiality and the education of commanding officers, senior 
enlisted personnel, and chaplains. GAO also examined whether DOD 
has established an oversight framework to monitor implementation.
-------------------------Indexing Terms------------------------- 
REPORTNUM:   GAO-06-540 					        
    ACCNO:   A54685						        
  TITLE:     Military Personnel: Progress Made in Implementing	      
Recommendations to Reduce Domestic Violence, but Further	 
Management Action Needed					 
     DATE:   05/24/2006 
  SUBJECT:   Data collection					 
	     Data integrity					 
	     Databases						 
	     Disciplinary actions				 
	     Domestic violence					 
	     Internal controls					 
	     Military officers					 
	     Military policies					 
	     Military training					 
	     Reporting requirements				 

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GAO-06-540

     

     * Results in Brief
     * Background
     * DOD's Ability to Report on Domestic Violence Incidents and C
     * Resources Provided and Progress Made, but Challenges Exist t
          * Resources Provided for Office Overseeing Implementation of R
          * Progress Made in Implementing Domestic Violence Recommendati
          * Limited Personnel in Office Overseeing Implementation
          * Implementation Policies Not Effectively Communicated
     * Steps Taken to Ensure Confidentiality and Provide Domestic V
          * New Restricted Reporting Policy Not Yet in Force
          * Additional Efforts Are Needed to Ensure Training Is Received
     * DOD Has Not Established an Oversight Framework to Monitor Co
     * Conclusions
     * Recommendations for Executive Action
     * Agency Comments and Our Evaluation
     * Appendix I: Scope and Methodology
     * Appendix II: Resources Provided to Implement Task Force Reco
     * Appendix III: 194 Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence Re
     * Appendix IV: DOD's Directive-Type Memoranda and Policy Imple
     * Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Defense
     * Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments
          * GAO Contact
          * Acknowledgments
               * Order by Mail or Phone

Report to Congressional Committees

United States Government Accountability Office

GAO

May 2006

MILITARY PERSONNEL

Progress Made in Implementing Recommendations to Reduce Domestic Violence,
but Further Management Action Needed

GAO-06-540

Contents

Letter 1

Results in Brief 4
Background 8
DOD's Ability to Report on Domestic Violence Incidents and Commander
Actions Is Hampered by Incomplete Data 9
Resources Provided and Progress Made, but Challenges Exist to Implementing
the Remaining Task Force Recommendations 12
Steps Taken to Ensure Confidentiality and Provide Domestic Violence
Training, but Additional Efforts Needed 20
DOD Has Not Established an Oversight Framework to Monitor Compliance and
Evaluate Implementation of Recommendations 25
Conclusions 26
Recommendations for Executive Action 27
Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 27
Appendix I Scope and Methodology 32
Appendix II Resources Provided to Implement Task Force Recommendations 37
Appendix III 194 Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence Recommendations
39
Appendix IV DOD's Directive-Type Memoranda and Policy Implementing the
Task Force Recommendations 54
Appendix V Comments from the Department of Defense 56
Appendix VI GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 60

Tables

Table 1: Installations Visited During the Review 32
Table 2: Resources and Projects to Implement Task Force Recommendations 37
Table 3: Community Collaboration Recommendations 39
Table 4: Education and Training Recommendations 43
Table 5: Offender Accountability Recommendations 45
Table 6: Victim Safety Recommendations 47
Table 7: Other Recommendations 50
Table 8: DOD's Memoranda Implementing Task Force Recommendations 54

Figure

Figure 1: Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence Recommendations by
Themes and Implementation Status 14

Abbreviations

DOD Department of Defense

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United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548

May 24, 2006

The Honorable John Warner Chairman The Honorable Carl Levin Ranking
Minority Member Committee on Armed Services United States Senate

The Honorable Duncan L. Hunter Chairman The Honorable Ike Skeleton Ranking
Minority Member Committee on Armed Services House of Representatives

Congress and the Department of Defense (DOD) have expressed concerns about
domestic violence in the military and its adverse effect on unit morale
and mission readiness. DOD defines domestic violence as "[a]n offense
under the United States Code, the Uniform Code of Military Justice, or
State law that involves the use, attempted use, or threatened use of force
or violence against a person of the opposite sex, or a violation of a
lawful order issued for the protection of a person of the opposite sex,
who is (a) a current or former spouse; (b) a person with whom the abuser
shares a child in common; or (c) a current or former intimate partner with
whom the abuser shares or has shared a common domicile." Further, to
separate criminal from noncriminal incidents, DOD's definition of domestic
abuse encompasses (1) domestic violence as defined above, or (2) a pattern
of behavior resulting in emotional/psychological abuse, economic control,
and/or interference with personal liberty that is directed toward a person
of the opposite sex who meets the same criteria as defined for domestic
violence.1 Serious adverse consequences for servicemembers who commit acts
of domestic violence can range from nonjudicial punishments that could
remove a servicemember from normal duties to criminal sanctions that could
result in imprisonment.

1DOD adopted the definitions for domestic violence and domestic abuse in
2004.

Following a number of reported high-profile domestic violence cases
involving soldiers who killed their spouses, Congress required DOD to take
several actions to address concerns about domestic violence in the
military. Specifically, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal
Year 2000 required DOD to, among other things, (1) establish a central
database of information on domestic violence incidents reported to a
commander, military law enforcement, or officials responsible for clinical
treatment or support services and the action(s) taken by the commanding
officers when disciplinary measures were required, and to report this
information to the administrator of the database annually; and (2)
establish a Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence to assess the
military's response to domestic violence and make recommendations for
improvement.2 The task force issued three reports over the next 3 years,
which collectively contained almost 200 recommendations. To highlight its
concerns, the task force stated in its first report that domestic violence
is an offense against the institutional values of the military services of
the United States that degrades the overall readiness of our armed forces.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 20043 required us
to review DOD's progress in implementing the task force recommendations.
In accordance with that act and agreements with your offices, this report
discusses (1) DOD's ability to report on domestic violence incidents in
the military and disciplinary actions taken by commanders to address these
incidents, (2) the extent to which DOD has provided resources to the
office overseeing the implementation of the task force's recommendations
and the extent to which the recommendations have been implemented, and (3)
the specific actions that DOD has taken on recommendations to ensure the
confidentiality for victims of domestic violence and the education of
commanding officers, senior enlisted personnel, and chaplains. The report
also discusses the extent to which DOD has established an oversight
framework to guide and evaluate its implementation of the recommendations.

To determine DOD's ability to report on domestic violence incidents in the
military and command disciplinary actions, we reviewed and analyzed
information on and reports from DOD's Defense Incident-Based Reporting
System, which contains data on criminal incidents of domestic violence,
and the Family Advocacy Program Central Registry.4 In addition, we
reviewed DOD's three reports to Congress on reported domestic violence
incidents in the military, which were issued in November 2001 for fiscal
year 2000 data, February 2003 for fiscal year 2001 data, and July 2004 for
fiscal year 2002 data. To assess the reliability of the data in DOD's
systems, we (1) reviewed existing information about the data and the
system that produced them and (2) interviewed agency officials
knowledgeable about the data. We concluded that the data from the Defense
Incident-Based Reporting System database were not reliable enough to
enable DOD to accurately report on the number of domestic violence
incidents in the military.

2 Pub. L. No. 106-65, at 591, 594 (1999).

3 Pub. L. No. 108 -136, at 575 (2003).

To determine the extent to which DOD (1) provided resources to the office
overseeing implementation, (2) implemented the task force recommendations,
and (3) established an oversight framework, we interviewed knowledgeable
DOD officials, including those in DOD's Family Violence Policy Office and
Family Advocacy Program Office, and analyzed relevant documents and data.
These documents and data included budget information; DOD's strategic plan
for implementing the task force recommendations; DOD's Reports on
Implementation of Recommendations of the Defense Task Force on Domestic
Violence submitted on August 8, 2005, and February 15, 2006; training
materials for chaplains and commanding officers; and related metrics,
applicable laws, regulations, policy memoranda, and other documents DOD
and the services used to support implementation of the task force's
recommendations and evaluation of that implementation.

Additionally, we visited at least 2 military installations for each
service in the United States and 5 overseas, for a total of 15
installations. During these visits, we conducted nongeneralizable small
group discussions with and obtained supporting documentation from various
installation officials, including commanding officers, chaplains, victim
advocates, family advocacy program managers, and staff judge advocates. We
also conducted focus groups with military police and senior enlisted
personnel at these installations. We performed our work in accordance with
generally accepted government auditing standards from July 2005 through
March 2006. More details on our scope and methodology are presented in
appendix I.

4 The Family Advocacy Central Registry collects clinical information about
the initial allegation of domestic abuse, support and services provided to
victims of such abuse, and treatment, such as anger management classes,
given to alleged abusers.

                                Results in Brief

DOD's ability to report on domestic violence incidents and disciplinary
actions taken by commanders is hampered because the systems that the
department uses to collect domestic violence information do not contain
complete data. Specifically, in an effort to satisfy the requirement in
the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, DOD, in June
2000, established the central domestic violence database in its Defense
Incident-Based Reporting System (which contains criminal incidents).
However, our analysis revealed that this database does not contain
complete data that would enable DOD to accurately report on the number of
domestic violence incidents in the military and the command disciplinary
actions that were taken. DOD officials informed us that its domestic
violence database of criminal incidents lacks complete data because some
of the services' law enforcement systems that feed into it are not yet
operational. In addition, we determined that a number of installations
were not reporting command disciplinary actions into the law enforcement
data systems as required by DOD guidance. In its 2002 report to Congress
on reported domestic violence incidents, DOD stated that of the 2,173 Army
and Air Force incidents for which sufficient evidence existed to take
disciplinary action, 1,027, or 47 percent, had no actions identified.
Notwithstanding the task force recommendation and the legislative
requirement to report on the number of incidents, DOD has not developed
plans to address the data limitations. Without complete data on reported
incidents of domestic violence and the steps taken by commanding officers
to address these incidents, Congress and DOD will lack the visibility and
information needed to understand the magnitude of the domestic violence
problem, identify domestic violence trends, and address emerging issues.
To ensure that complete data exist and can be reported annually as
required, we are recommending that DOD (1) develop a comprehensive
management plan to address deficiencies in the domestic violence data
captured in its law enforcement systems, and (2) take appropriate steps to
ensure that command actions related to domestic violence incidents are
entered in the law enforcement systems as required. DOD generally
concurred with these recommendations.

DOD has provided funding that has been used to implement many of the task
force's recommendations, but personnel shortages and ineffective
communication of related policies have hindered the department's efforts.
Since fiscal year 2003, DOD has provided the Family Violence Policy Office
approximately $23 million to implement the task force's recommendations.
Among its investments, DOD used the money to fund a contract to provide
additional victim advocate and shelter services and training for various
DOD professionals. This funding helped the department implement many of
the task force recommendations during the past 3 years. Specifically, our
analysis of the status of DOD's actions to implement the task force's
recommendations showed that 94 had been completed, 60 had pending actions,
and 40 had no actions planned because DOD either disagreed with the
recommendations or determined they were not applicable to the department.
Despite the funding to date and reported progress, personnel shortages and
ineffective communication of its policies could hinder DOD's efforts to
implement the pending task force recommendations and to improve its
response to domestic violence. Although retaining key personnel is a good
internal control principle, as of March 2006, DOD had not fully staffed
the office overseeing implementation of the task force recommendations.
According to officials in the Family Violence Policy Office, without
adequate personnel, they will not be able to implement all of the pending
recommendations in a timely manner. In addition, DOD's method of
communicating its new domestic violence guidance has produced inconsistent
practices among DOD and the services. DOD issued 16 interim directive-type
memoranda to implement changes in response to the task force
recommendations. The department communicated these memoranda to the
services via mail to the Service Secretaries offices and e-mail or Web
pages. However, some installation officials stated that memoranda and
guidance sent by e-mail and Web pages were not reaching their level in a
timely manner and had ultimately resulted in them not knowing about and,
thus, not consistently following current policies and guidance. For
example, in response to a task force recommendation, DOD initially allowed
distribution of military protective orders to law enforcement and family
advocacy personnel, but reversed this policy due to privacy concerns. This
policy change, however, was not effectively communicated, causing many
inconsistent practices throughout the installations we visited. Without an
overall communication strategy that promotes clear and consistent policy
among DOD and the services, there may continue to be inconsistencies in
knowledge on DOD's domestic violence guidance. We are recommending that
DOD (1) develop a plan to ensure adequate personnel are available to
implement the remaining task force recommendations and (2) establish a
strategy for communicating its policies, to include clearly articulating
its policy regarding the distribution of military protective orders. In
commenting on a draft of our report, DOD concurred with the first
recommendation. However, due to privacy concerns, DOD partially
nonconcurred with an earlier version of the second recommendation, which
asked the department to reconsider the task force's recommendation on
providing copies of the military protective orders to law enforcement and
family advocacy officials. Since DOD stated that it has considered the
issue of providing the protective orders and continues to believe there
are privacy concerns, we modified our original recommendation to emphasize
the department's need to clearly communicate its policy regarding
distribution of military protective orders.

DOD is taking steps, such as issuing policy, to address the task force's
specific recommendations to ensure confidentiality for victims and to
train its commanding officers, senior enlisted personnel, and chaplains;
however, the department's final policy on confidentiality did not take
effect until April 2006, and additional efforts are needed to ensure that
appropriate training is received. In its efforts to ensure
confidentiality, DOD issued its Restricted Reporting Policy for Incidents
of Domestic Abuse on January 22, 2006. This policy is to allow victims to
report incidents of domestic abuse to health care providers, victim
advocates, and other specified people so that victims can benefit from
access to medical care or victim advocacy services and support without
initiating the investigative process or notifying the victim's or alleged
offender's commanding officer. The intent of the policy is to encourage
victims to seek help that they might not otherwise receive because they
feared for the family's overall financial welfare and that the alleged
offender's military career might be jeopardized. However, the policy did
not take effect until April 22, 2006. With respect to its training
efforts, DOD has issued guidance requiring training for commanding
officers, senior enlisted personnel, and chaplains. The military services
are providing educational options for commanding officers and senior
enlisted personnel such as Web-based training and training events held at
the installations. In addition, chaplains, who have a special role in
assisting domestic violence victims, are receiving training at their basic
officer's course, and periodically through continuing professional
military education. However, complete data on which chaplains have
received training are not available. Without complete data, DOD can not be
assured of the extent to which these personnel have been trained and
provided with resources that will assist them in effectively dealing with
domestic violence issues. Some Army and Navy chaplains told us that they
may notify command about domestic violence cases identified during a
privileged communication. According to the Army regulation,5 however, such
communications given to chaplains as a formal act of religion or as a
matter of conscience are protected and are not to be disclosed without
permission of the person making the communication. A breach of this
confidence would be contrary to the Army regulation. Without additional
guidance and emphasis within chaplain training to clarify this issue, DOD
will be unable to ensure that all chaplains are prepared to handle private
information provided by victims or offenders, which could deter both
victims and offenders from seeking assistance. Accordingly, we are
recommending that DOD, in conjunction with the services, (1) develop
procedures and metrics to ensure that accurate, consistent, and timely
domestic violence training data are collected for chaplains; and (2)
develop additional guidance and training materials for chaplains
clarifying their privileged communication responsibilities. DOD did not
concur with the first recommendation and partially nonconcurred with the
second recommendation, both of which were originally directed to the Under
Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness and family advocacy
program officials. DOD commented that these two recommendations were more
appropriately directed to the Military Departments. We agree. We have
revised our report to direct the recommendations to the services. However,
in our view, these recommendations are also appropriately directed to the
Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, who has oversight
responsibility and stewardship for domestic violence issues.

5 Army Regulation 165-1, Religious Activities: Chaplain Activities in the
United States Army, Mar. 25, 2004.

While some progress has been made in implementing the task force
recommendations, DOD has not established an oversight framework to monitor
compliance with the recommendations and evaluate its implementation
efforts. DOD's draft domestic violence instruction requires the Military
Community and Family Policy office to monitor compliance with and
periodically evaluate domestic violence efforts. However, the draft
instruction does not communicate how this should be done. Although DOD
officials told us that the service headquarters monitor and evaluate the
performance of the family advocacy program offices through their
accreditation process, they acknowledged that the service accreditation
reports are not sent to DOD and that the department has limited visibility
into the services' domestic violence efforts. Further, the Family Violence
Policy Office has not established a formal process for monitoring and
reporting progress of the overall implementation of the task force
recommendations. Without an overall management framework and a process for
monitoring and reporting on implementation of the recommendations, DOD and
Congress have limited visibility and oversight to evaluate implementation
efforts and make needed improvements and thus, ensure the success of its
efforts. We are recommending that DOD develop and implement, in
conjunction with the services, a DOD-wide oversight framework that
includes a results-oriented evaluation plan for assessing the
effectiveness of the implemented recommendations, and a process for
monitoring and reporting on ongoing implementation efforts. DOD concurred
with this recommendation.

DOD's comments and our evaluation of them are discussed in detail in a
later section of this report. The full text of the department's written
comments is contained in appendix V.

                                   Background

Following a number of high-profile domestic violence cases involving
soldiers stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, who killed their wives,
Congress, in the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000, required the
Secretary of Defense to establish the Defense Task Force on Domestic
Violence. The task force was chartered as a 3-year effort to assist the
Secretary of Defense in identifying ways to prevent domestic violence in
the military, when possible, and in responding more effectively when
domestic violence occurs. In March 2000, 24 members were appointed to the
task force. These members included 12 senior officials from the four
services and 12 senior officials from the civilian sector who were experts
in the area of domestic violence.

The act also required the task force to develop a strategic plan for DOD
that included recommendations for improving DOD's domestic violence
efforts in areas such as victim safety programs, domestic violence
training for military commanders, and domestic violence responses at
overseas military installations. The task force also assessed and made
recommendations regarding the roles and responsibilities that command,
chaplain, law enforcement, legal, and medical personnel have with regard
to addressing domestic violence incidents. From February 2001 through
February 2003, the task force issued three reports containing 194
recommendations for improving DOD's response to domestic violence.

The task force identified four primary themes with regard to the
recommendations made in the three reports:

           o  Community collaboration-addresses coordination and
           collaboration issues among all military organizations, such as
           family advocacy and legal offices, in relation to domestic
           violence, as well as coordination between military and civilian
           communities.
           o  Education and training-addresses training issues for commanding
           officers, senior enlisted personnel, Family Advocacy Program
           staff, and first responders, such as military police.
           o  Offender accountability-identifies measures to improve
           individual offender accountability and program accountability, as
           well as improve dispositions and case management.
           o  Victim safety-addresses issues related to victim safety
           programs, confidentiality for victims, and other policies to
           enhance victim safety.

           In January 2003, within the Office of the Under Secretary of
           Defense for Personnel and Readiness, the Military Community and
           Family Policy Office established the Family Violence Policy Office
           to coordinate implementation of the task force's recommendations,
           many of which were aimed at improving DOD's Family Advocacy
           Program. The Family Advocacy Program, also under the Military
           Community and Family Policy Office, provides services that
           contribute to the health of military families, treats victims of
           domestic violence, and offers rehabilitation and treatment for
           abusers. The Family Advocacy Program Director works in conjunction
           with service headquarters managers to oversee the execution of the
           program within each service.

           DOD's ability to report domestic violence incidents involving
           servicemembers and the disciplinary actions taken by commanders is
           hampered because the data systems that the department uses to
           collect domestic violence information contain incomplete data. The
           National Defense Authorization Act of 20006 required DOD to
           develop a centralized domestic violence database of information on
           incidents of domestic violence involving members of the Armed
           Forces. This includes domestic violence incidents reported to a
           commander, a law enforcement authority of the Armed Forces, or a
           family advocacy program official. Under the act, the Secretaries
           of the military departments are required to report this
           information annually to the administrator of the database. DOD is
           also required, under Section 591, to report information from the
           database, along with its responses to each of the three task force
           reports.7 In an effort to satisfy the legislation, DOD established
           the central domestic violence database within its Defense
           Incident-Based Reporting System.8 This database contains domestic
           violence incidents that are criminal in nature including:
           infractions of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, state law, or
           violation of a protection order.

           Although DOD established the central domestic violence database in
           June 2000,9 it is not yet fully operational and it does not
           contain complete information about reported incidents of domestic
           violence. DOD officials stated that the information contained in
           the database on the number of incidents is not complete because
           some of the law enforcement systems used by the services that feed
           into the central database are not yet operational. These are the
           Air Force's Office of Special Investigation system, which is
           expected to be operational by August 2006; the Army's Judge
           Advocate General Office system, which is still in development; and
           the Air Force's Judge Advocate General Office system, which is
           expected to be operational by June 2006. As a result, the central
           domestic violence database does not contain any information about
           domestic violence incidents that would be captured in these
           systems.

           The central domestic violence database captures incidents of a
           criminal nature that were responded to by military law enforcement
           personnel; but it does not contain information on incidents
           reported to Family Advocacy personnel such as emotional abuse or
           domestic violence incidents that occur off the installation. To
           obtain this information, as required in the act,10 DOD must
           supplement data from the Defense Incident-Based Reporting System
           with data from the Family Advocacy Program Central Registry, which
           contains clinical data on domestic violence incidents. However,
           the Central Registry data system previously provided incomplete
           domestic violence data because until January 2006, the Central
           Registry only contained reported incidents of abuse involving
           current spouses. It did not contain domestic violence data as
           defined by DOD's 2004 definition that involved former spouses and
           intimate partners with whom the alleged offender shared a child or
           a common domicile. Therefore, prior to 2006, DOD did not provide
           complete information on all reported instances of domestic
           violence.

           DOD used information from the two systems in preparing its reports
           to Congress on the number of incidents of domestic violence in the
           military and commanders' actions taken in responding to them
           during fiscal years 2000 through 2002. However, DOD officials who
           have responsibility for gathering these data acknowledged that the
           statistics contained in these reports were questionable. Moreover,
           they informed us that since the last report to Congress on fiscal
           year 2002 incidents, no attempts had been made to match up the
           information from the two systems, despite a June 8, 2000,
           memorandum from the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for
           Personnel and Readiness that directed them to do so. Our analysis
           confirmed that neither system had complete data to enable DOD to
           accurately determine the extent of reported domestic violence
           incidents in the military.

           Beyond these concerns, our review of information in the Defense
           Incident-Based Reporting System and supporting service law
           enforcement systems revealed that a number of installations were
           not reporting disciplinary actions taken by the commanders as
           required.11 For example, in the fiscal year 2002 report that DOD
           released to Congress, DOD reported that of the 2,173 Army and Air
           Force incidents for which sufficient evidence existed to take
           disciplinary action, 1,027, or 47 percent had no actions listed.
           DOD and service instructions require that command disciplinary
           actions be entered into the law enforcement systems. Moreover,
           these systems contain a data field to record commanders' actions
           in responding to domestic violence incidents. However, during our
           site visits, we found that some commander disciplinary actions
           were not being entered into the data field and some of the law
           enforcement officials we interviewed stated that they were unaware
           that they were required to do so. These officials acknowledged the
           importance of including this information to provide visibility
           over what disciplinary actions had been taken and that there was a
           field available in the system for them to do so. At one
           installation, we found that hard copies of the commander
           disciplinary actions were maintained in a file in the Provost
           Marshall's office, but this information had not been entered into
           the law enforcement database.

           Officials who oversee the DOD central domestic violence database
           and the Central Registry data system, as well as Family Violence
           Policy Office personnel, are aware of the problems with obtaining
           complete information about domestic violence incidents and
           commander disciplinary actions. However, officials in the Office
           of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness have
           not developed a plan for correcting the deficiencies and ensuring
           that (1) the central database on domestic violence in the Defense
           Incident-Based Reporting System and service law enforcement
           systems have complete and accurate data and (2) all commander
           disciplinary actions related to domestic violence incidents are
           reported into these systems. Without complete data on reported
           incidents of domestic violence and the steps taken by commanding
           officers to address these incidents, Congress and DOD will lack
           the visibility and information needed to understand the magnitude
           of the domestic violence problem, identify domestic violence
           trends, and proactively address these issues as they emerge.

           Over the past 3 years, DOD provided the Family Violence Policy
           Office about $23 million, which it has used to make progress
           toward implementing many of the task force's recommendations.
           Nonetheless, two challenges-shortages in critical staff and
           ineffective strategies for communicating new domestic violence
           policies- threaten progress and limit assurance of consistent
           application of its new policies.

           From fiscal year 2003 through fiscal year 2005, the Military
           Community and Family Policy Office provided the Family Violence
           Policy Office with approximately $23 million to implement the task
           force's recommendations. The largest portion, about $17 million,
           was for funding a contract to provide victim advocate services and
           shelter services to victims of domestic violence. Program analysts
           from the Military Community and Family Policy Office told us that
           this contract provides on-call services from within the local
           community, supporting approximately 45 full-time and 40 part-time
           on-call advocates each month. The Family Violence Policy Office
           was also provided approximately $3 million to train various DOD
           professionals in 2005. The cost of this training included funds
           for a contractor to perform conference planning, facilitation, and
           administrative management support services for these events .
           Additionally, the Family Violence Policy Office was provided
           $400,000 to develop a DOD-wide domestic violence public awareness
           campaign. Appendix II provides a detailed breakdown of the
           expenditures of the Family Violence Policy Office in implementing
           the task force recommendations.

           Our analysis of DOD's actions in implementing the task force
           recommendations shows that DOD, as of March 2006, had implemented
           almost two-thirds of the recommendations they planned to carry
           out. While this shows progress, the recommendations vary in their
           relative importance to improving DOD's efforts to address domestic
           violence; and thus, the implementation of some recommendations may
           not have as significant an impact on DOD's efforts as will the
           implementation of others. Notwithstanding this point, of the 194
           recommendations made by the task force, we found DOD had completed
           actions on 94 recommendations, had actions pending on 60
           recommendations, and had not taken actions on 40 recommendations
           because the department either disagreed with the recommendations,
           the recommendation was not applicable to the department, or DOD
           felt that the recommended action was already undertaken. We
           counted recommendations as completed if we found evidence of
           action taken on the recommendation by DOD. Actions taken included
           guidance, policy memoranda, training materials, or other
           supporting documentation DOD issued to implement the task force
           recommendation. Additionally, we found, for the most part,
           documentation, focus group discussions, or interviews that showed
           the service and installation levels were implementing or had
           efforts to begin implementing DOD's guidance on the completed
           actions.

           Figure 1 shows our analysis of DOD's implementation status of the
           194 recommendations. The recommendations are grouped by the four
           primary task force themes previously discussed in this report;
           recommendations that did not fit directly into one of these themes
           were classified as "other." The "other" category contains items
           such as issues related to overseas installations and program
           management.12

           Figure 1: Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence Recommendations
           by Themes and Implementation Status

           As figure I shows, DOD has made the most progress in implementing
           recommendations pertaining to community collaboration and victim
           safety. DOD officials stated that their original focus was placed
           on addressing victim safety issues, in particular, because it was
           critical to ensure victims are protected from further abuse. A
           listing of all 194 recommendations and our analysis of DOD's
           status in completing them are included in appendix III.

           The Family Violence Policy Office believed that they had completed
           more recommendations than we identified in our analysis.
           Specifically, DOD officials provided a department-level status
           matrix that indicated that they had completed 121 of the 194 task
           force recommendations. Our numbers differ because DOD identified
           27 of the recommendations as complete when we found DOD actually
           had stated that it did not agree with 26 of the recommendations or
           took no action because the recommendation was already being done
           or did not apply to them, and one recommendation was still
           pending. For example, the task force recommended that DOD
           centrally track military protective orders. DOD essentially
           disagreed with the recommendation, stating that it had determined
           that it would not be feasible to centrally record and track
           military protective orders because there were too few such orders
           to justify creating another database. Nevertheless, DOD
           categorized this recommendation as complete, while we categorized
           this recommendation as one with which they disagreed. We have
           grouped the 26 recommendations and the one pending action with
           those that were identified as requiring no action and pending,
           respectively in appendix III, which shows our analysis of DOD's
           status for the recommendations.

           Despite its investment to date and reported progress, potential
           personnel shortages in the DOD office implementing the
           recommendations could hinder the department's timely
           implementation of the remaining recommendations. The personnel in
           this office have an essential role in implementing the domestic
           violence recommendations, with responsibility for, among other
           things, (1) drafting, revising, and coordinating DOD policy in
           response to domestic violence recommendations; (2) drafting
           training curricula and monitoring implementation of those
           curricula for family advocacy program staff, health care
           officials, and law enforcement, among others; and (3) drafting and
           coordinating public affairs strategies to inform the military
           community about the revised DOD response to domestic violence in
           the military.

           Officials in the Military Community and Family Policy Office and
           those in the Family Violence Policy Office told us that,
           originally in 2003, five positions had been provided for the team
           implementing the task force recommendations. This included one
           permanent position for the office supervisor; one term position
           for a program analyst; and three positions for senior-level
           officers on detail assignments from the services-one each from the
           Army, Navy, and Air Force. Position descriptions for military
           personnel stress that these individuals were to serve as military
           experts in implementing domestic violence programs. However,
           officials in the Family Violence Policy Office told us the Navy
           officer retired in 2004, and the Air Force officer was detailed to
           another OSD position in 2005. The Navy did not "backfill" or
           replace its position, stating that the position was needed within
           their service, and officials in the Family Violence Policy Office
           stated that OSD had placed the Air Force position within another
           area of DOD because OSD had a greater need for that position
           there. Thus, since 2005, the Family Violence Policy Office has
           been reduced to three positions.

           During our review, officials in the Family Violence Policy Office
           stated that the officer detailed from the Army is expected to
           retire in May 2006 and the term position is expected to expire in
           July 2006. The office had requested and obtained approval from the
           OSD Military Community and Family Policy Office to fill the Army
           position and renew the term position, stating that these positions
           were needed to complete implementation of the remaining
           recommendations in a timely manner. The officials further noted
           that the remaining recommendations they will be implementing are
           more challenging than those already implemented and will require
           personnel experienced in domestic violence issues. For example,
           they explained that implementation of the recommendations aimed at
           revamping the Case Review Committee and the Offender Intervention
           require more research and analysis with experts within and outside
           of DOD. Without adequate personnel, the officials estimate that it
           may take more than 3 years to implement the remaining 60 task
           force recommendations. However, as of March 2006, officials in the
           Family Violence Policy Office told us that approval to fill the
           soon-to-be-vacant positions had not been obtained from the final
           approval authority at Washington Headquarters Services. Retaining
           key personnel who can affect the ability of a program to function
           effectively is a good internal control principle.13

           DOD also faces a challenge in effectively communicating the
           policies that it has developed in response to the task force's
           recommendations. DOD's method of communicating its policy changes
           has not been effective in ensuring consistent practices or
           promoting widespread understanding of the new policies among DOD
           and the services.

           As of March 2006, DOD had issued 16 directive-type memoranda as
           interim guidance to quickly communicate information about changes
           resulting from implementation of the task force recommendations.
           (See app. IV for a list of these memoranda). Almost all of the
           directive-type memoranda set target dates for DOD to issue later
           guidance implementing the interim policies. In most cases, final
           guidance such as a directive was expected to be issued within 180
           days after each memorandum was signed; however, as of March 2006,
           the final guidance had not been issued and most of the interim
           guidance is now more than 2 years old. Since the memoranda are
           interim guidance, they have been communicated to the services and
           throughout DOD through mail to the Service Secretaries and
           informally via e-mails and special Web pages14 rather than being
           formally posted on the official DOD directives Web site.15 Under
           internal control guidance, organizations should consistently apply
           policies, and sound management practices of leading organizations
           offer federal agencies a methodology for establishing effective
           communications to promote consistency.16 However, some DOD and
           service officials we met with stated that existing DOD guidance
           was not always consistent with the directive-type memoranda
           implementing the task force recommendations and that this
           inconsistency has sometimes caused confusion at the installation
           level. In addition, we found that information in the
           directive-type memoranda was not always communicated to the
           installations in a timely manner and had resulted in some of the
           officials not knowing about and, thus not following current
           policies consistently.

           We identified several inconsistencies in implementing the
           recommendations as a result of DOD's policy changes not being
           communicated effectively, including the following:

           o  DOD's Family Advocacy Program Directive 6400.1 has not been
           updated to reflect DOD's interim guidance that implements the task
           force recommendations, even though a number of the task force
           recommendations had called for these changes to be made in this
           directive. Family Advocacy officials told us they will not update
           their directive until the Family Violence Policy Office issues a
           new instruction, incorporating all of the interim guidance issued
           in the directive-type memoranda. As a result, some DOD and service
           officials stated that inconsistent guidance from these two offices
           has been a source of confusion. A prime example is that while
           DOD's new definition of domestic violence was issued in 2004,
           staff at some of the installations we visited said that they did
           not become aware of the definition until late 2005 or January
           2006. Consequently, some victims of domestic violence who were
           covered under the new definition, since 2004, may not have been
           considered for services.
           o  The task force also recommended that DOD establish a policy
           that written copies of military protective orders be forwarded
           immediately to both law enforcement and family advocacy officials.
           While DOD initially issued a policy in March 2004 allowing
           distribution to law enforcement, it reversed this policy in July
           2004 due to concerns with the military protective order's use and
           dissemination. DOD's August 8, 2005, status report on
           recommendations further stated that the Privacy Act17 does not
           allow distribution of the military protective orders to family
           advocacy and law enforcement. This policy change, however, was not
           effectively communicated, causing many inconsistent practices
           throughout the installations we visited. For example, contrary to
           the July 2004 guidance, DOD's September 2005 domestic violence
           training materials provided to commanders, judge advocates, and
           law enforcement personnel contained information on leadership
           responsibilities, which stated that a copy of each order is to be
           forwarded to law enforcement and family advocacy. Further, policy
           information on DOD's Web sites that allowed the orders to be
           distributed to law enforcement was not changed until we notified
           DOD officials of the inconsistency. Additionally, we found
           inconsistent practices between the services. For example, the
           Army's regulations18 allowed distribution of the protective orders
           to family advocacy and law enforcement officials. On the other
           hand, the Navy did not provide copies to family advocacy. However,
           a Navy instruction,19 which predated the DOD July 2004 guidance,
           allowed distribution to law enforcement. Navy officials stated
           that their guidance will be revised to reflect DOD requirements
           not to provide copies to law enforcement, upon release of DOD's
           Domestic Violence instruction. Finally, our discussions with OSD
           and service lawyers revealed that they believe providing copies of
           protective orders to family advocacy and law enforcement officials
           would not be a violation of the Privacy Act.
           o  The task force recommended that "DOD mandate the military
           services to provide awareness education to military spouses
           regarding the transitional compensation program."20 DOD said that
           no action was required on this recommendation "[s]ince Congress
           established the transitional compensation program; the services
           have routinely educated dependent family members about it."
           However, during our installation visits we found inconsistent
           communication of this information. Discussion groups with victim
           advocates and interviews with family advocacy officials revealed
           that a few installations elected not to inform military members or
           spouses about transitional compensation until a specific victim
           had a documented, validated domestic violence case in which they
           would be eligible to receive benefits. The victim advocates stated
           that this was done to prevent potential abuse of the program. Some
           of the other installations were quite liberal about providing
           information on the program. They said they felt providing the
           information may encourage more people to come forward if they knew
           help was available.
           o  The task force also recommended that DOD develop guidance for
           commanding officers on how to properly document domestic violence
           issues in separation papers to help facilitate transitional
           compensation. The directive-type memorandum issued by DOD to
           implement this recommendation states that commanding officers
           should be trained on transitional compensation, but it does not
           specifically require training them on how to "properly document
           separation papers." Some victim advocates at installations we
           visited said that commanding officers do not always use proper
           documentation to ensure that victims will receive transitional
           compensation and that some victims have been denied these funds
           because of lack of documentation. DOD officials in the Family
           Violence Policy Office told us that guidance on waiver
           requirements, as recommended by the task force, is included in a
           draft instruction from the Military Personnel Policy Directorate
           on transitional compensation. We found inconsistencies in victim
           advocates' knowledge of the waiver associated with transitional
           compensation requirements because this information had not been
           effectively communicated to the advocates.

           DOD officials in the Family Violence Policy Office, Family
           Advocacy Program Office, as well as officials in the four services
           acknowledged that communication could be a problem and may result
           in inconsistencies. They also noted that formal instructions take
           years to draft and coordinate and that mailing the interim
           guidance to service secretaries, e-mailing it to key points of
           contacts, and placing the guidance on the Web pages were the best
           avenues to follow. However, in our view, without an overall
           communication strategy that provides a clear and consistent
           understanding of policy among DOD and the services, there may
           continue to be confusion and inconsistencies among DOD and the
           services on implementing the task force's recommendations.

           DOD is taking steps to address specific task force recommendations
           to ensure confidentiality for victims of domestic violence and to
           train commanding officers, senior enlisted personnel, and
           chaplains on how to respond to such incidents. In its efforts to
           ensure confidentiality, DOD has developed a restricted reporting
           policy that allows victims to report incidents of domestic abuse,
           which includes domestic violence, to health care and victim
           advocacy specialists without mandatory disclosure to command or
           law enforcement officials. However, the policy was not implemented
           until April 2006. Further, in its efforts to provide additional
           domestic violence training, DOD issued guidance requiring training
           for commanding officers, senior enlisted personnel, and chaplains,
           but tracking and documenting these training efforts have not
           always occurred.

           The task force had a number of recommendations asking DOD to
           explore options for creating a system of confidential services,
           privileged communications, and exemptions to mandatory reporting.
           The goal of these recommendations was to provide victims of
           domestic violence with access to a credible avenue for receiving
           support, information, options, and resources to address the
           violence in their lives. In response to the task force's
           recommendations, on January 22, 2006, DOD issued its Restricted
           Reporting Policy for Incidents of Domestic Abuse to ensure that
           domestic violence victims are protected, treated with dignity and
           respect, and provided with support, advocacy, and care.

           Under the new policy, victims can choose either unrestricted
           reporting or restricted reporting. Unrestricted reporting uses
           current reporting channels-e.g., chain of command, Family Advocacy
           Program, or law enforcement-and is for victims of domestic abuse
           who want to pursue an official investigation of an incident.
           Restricted reporting allows adult victims of domestic abuse to
           disclose the abuse to health care providers, victim advocates, or
           supervisors of victim advocates, and receive medical treatment and
           victim advocacy services without notifying the alleged offender's
           commanding officer or law enforcement. The new policy allows
           victims to receive relevant information, medical attention, and
           support while having additional time to make a more informed
           decision about reporting the incident. The task force found that
           victims were often reluctant to seek services because they had
           fears about the potential adverse impact the reported incident may
           have on the servicemember's career and the family's financial
           well-being, as well as concerns about their personal safety.

           However, the restricted reporting policy did not take effect until
           April 22, 2006, in order for the services to have time to develop
           consistent policies and an implementation strategy. Consequently,
           at the time of our review, it was too soon to assess what effects
           this policy will have on reported cases of domestic violence. The
           new policy, nonetheless, was a topic of great concern during our
           discussions at the 15 installations included in our study.
           Installation commanders, commanding officers, legal officers,
           provost marshals or heads of security forces, chaplains, family
           advocacy program managers, victim advocates, and health care
           providers all shared their views about the advantages and
           disadvantages of the restricted reporting policy. Their views
           varied considerably and ranged from unequivocal support for the
           policy, to uncertainty because of licensing and ethical concerns,
           to outright objection.

           Those who expressed support for the policy said they did so
           because they felt the policy promoted victim confidentiality,
           safety, and support. Some unit commanders, for example, stated
           that the policy would allow the victims to receive medical care
           and time to decide if they wanted to press charges. In addition,
           chaplains at some installations voiced approval for the policy
           because it opened another avenue for victims to receive assistance
           without getting others involved.

           Conversely, officials who objected to the restricted reporting
           policy said they did so because they believed the policy would not
           encourage victims to "officially" report the incident, and thus
           would send the wrong message to aggressors, as well as diminish
           the commanding officers' ability to hold offenders accountable.
           Specifically, legal officers serving as prosecutors and commanding
           officers at several installations told us that they objected to
           the policy because, while permitting victims to receive some types
           of assistance was positive, it allowed aggressors to remain free
           from disciplinary actions and to be able to continue the pattern
           of domestic violence. The legal officers also expressed concern
           about the evidence that would not be captured at the crime scene
           when domestic violence occurs because the incident was not
           reported immediately.

           One area of concern raised during our installation visits dealt
           with specific licensing issues and ethical dilemmas. For example,
           health care providers expressed concerns that the new restricted
           reporting policy may conflict with state licensing requirements
           mandating them to report incidents of domestic violence to
           civilian authorities. They also expressed reservations about the
           policy in cases where they had to provide medical aid to a
           severely injured individual who appeared to be untruthful about
           the source of the injury. While this policy is similar to DOD's
           Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Program policy, many
           officials in our discussion groups said that similar reporting may
           not be appropriate. According to these individuals, the
           perpetrator of sexual assault does not usually reside with the
           victim; therefore unreported incidents are less likely to place a
           victim in a situation for further abuse, unlike domestic violence
           where a victim would return home to the alleged abuser. Some of
           the health care providers expressed concerns that they might be
           placed in a position in which they had to send a battered victim
           back into a dangerous situation.

           During the time of our installation visits-i.e., from October 2005
           through February 2006-the restricted reporting policy was issued
           and addresses some of the concerns and issues from our discussion
           groups. For example, the policy states that confidentiality will
           be suspended for specific reasons, such as to prevent or lessen a
           serious and imminent threat to the health or safety of the victim
           or another person or when required by state statute. While some of
           the issues are addressed in the policy, the level of support this
           policy will provide victims of domestic violence, the potential
           impact restricted reporting will have on law enforcement
           investigations, as well as the impact the policy will have on a
           commander's ability to hold perpetrators accountable, will be
           determined during implementation.

           Beyond confidentiality, the task force made over 10
           recommendations that focused on training for commanding officers,
           senior enlisted personnel, and chaplains to respond to domestic
           violence issues. To respond to the task force recommendations to
           train commanding officers and senior enlisted personnel, DOD
           issued guidance directing the services to require these officials
           to receive such training. Specifically, the Office of the Under
           Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness issued a
           directive-type memorandum titled "Domestic Abuse Response and
           Intervention Training for Commanding Officers and Senior Enlisted
           Personnel" in February 2004. This memorandum required training on
           specified topics, such as dynamics of domestic violence, common
           misconceptions of victim safety, and responses to alleged domestic
           abuse. The military services are addressing this requirement by
           providing several educational options, including Web-based
           training, training at the professional military education schools,
           and training at installations led by instructors.

           In addressing the task force recommendation to train chaplains,
           the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and
           Readiness issued a directive-type memorandum titled "Domestic
           Abuse Training for Chaplains" on January 29, 2004, which required
           training for chaplains on specified topics. One of the primary
           topics that chaplains received training on was privileged
           communication,21 because of the special role chaplains play in
           providing assistance to victims of domestic violence. Chaplains we
           spoke with said they received this training at their basic
           officer's course, periodically through continuing professional
           military education, and at installations.

           While training on domestic violence issues is being provided to
           commanding officers, senior enlisted personnel, and chaplains, DOD
           does not have complete data on which chaplains have received
           training because the Military Community and Family Policy Office
           did not require tracking or documenting training provided to
           chaplains. Although internal control guidance states that
           management should document and track agency initiatives to
           ascertain if they are achieved and provide follow-up actions, the
           Family Violence Policy Office and Family Advocacy Office did not
           develop training metrics. Without accurate training data and
           documentation, DOD lacks visibility over whether chaplains have
           been adequately trained and are being provided with resources that
           will assist them in handling domestic violence issues.

           Furthermore, during our discussion groups with chaplains, which
           included a mix of experienced and junior officers, we found that
           some chaplains did not fully understand their responsibilities
           concerning privileged communication. For example, the Army
           regulation states that such privileged communication is not to be
           disclosed to third persons other than those to whom disclosure
           furthers the purpose of the communication, or to those reasonably
           necessary for the transmission of the communication. The
           regulation also states that the chaplain and chaplain assistant
           will not divulge privileged communication without the written
           consent of the person(s) authorized to claim the privilege. Some
           Army and Navy chaplains we interviewed stated that they may notify
           the chain of command about a privileged communication. For
           example, one chaplain mentioned that there was no Army requirement
           that chaplains report information discussed during a privileged
           communication and others stated that the current Army regulation
           for chaplains speaks to this. The chaplain further stated that
           some Army chaplains had decided for themselves what they would and
           would not report and would explain this to people that they
           counseled. A Navy chaplain also stated that under certain
           conditions he would notify the commanding officer if an individual
           admitted being involved in domestic violence, even if the person
           made the statement as a matter of religious conscience. Other
           chaplains in our discussion groups told us that a breach of
           privileged communication could ruin the reputation of chaplains
           and lead to no one seeking their help.

           The task force, in its 2002 report, also had similar findings and
           recommended that DOD issue guidance clarifying clergy
           confidentiality. An official at the Chaplain Board told us that,
           since it takes so long to issue DOD-wide guidance, DOD is not
           likely to issue additional guidance addressing confidentiality and
           privileged communication because the services have issued
           guidance, which is consistent with the Military Rules of
           Evidence.22 However, when we discussed privileged communication
           with chaplains, many referred to service guidance, as well as the
           Military Rules of Evidence; but some were unclear as to what their
           responsibilities were. Additional guidance and emphasis during
           chaplain training could facilitate a consistent understanding by
           chaplains of their responsibilities regarding confidentiality.
           Without taking action, DOD may be unable to ensure that all
           chaplains are prepared to handle private information provided by
           victims or offenders, which could deter both from seeking
           assistance.

           DOD has not established an oversight framework to monitor
           compliance with and evaluate implementation of the task force
           recommendations on domestic violence. The task force's initial
           2001 report recommended that DOD strategically use regional
           oversight and monitoring visits at both the DOD and service levels
           to improve the department's oversight of its efforts to address
           domestic violence. DOD's draft domestic abuse instruction requires
           the Military Community and Family Policy Office of the Under
           Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to monitor
           compliance with the instruction and periodically evaluate domestic
           violence efforts. The draft instruction, however, does not
           communicate how this should be done and the Military Community and
           Family Policy Office has not established a formal process for
           doing this.

           Officials in the Family Violence Policy Office stated that action
           on the task force recommendation for oversight is pending and told
           us they were exploring options for addressing it, such as having
           the DOD Inspector General perform reviews every 2 or 3 years.
           These officials and those from the Family Advocacy Program told us
           that the services' headquarters monitor and evaluate their own
           installation family advocacy program offices through their
           accreditation processes.23 However, they acknowledged that the
           service accreditation reports are not sent to DOD and that the
           department has limited visibility into service domestic violence
           efforts. The Military Community and Family Policy Office is
           considering asking officials from the Family Advocacy Program
           Office and the Family Violence Policy Office to go on some of the
           services' accreditation visits to provide oversight of the
           implementation efforts. The task force mentioned, however, that to
           be effective, program evaluation must be ongoing and fully
           integrated.

           Although the DOD Family Advocacy Office has established output
           metrics that somewhat relate to certain recommendations, DOD has
           not established results-oriented performance measures that could
           enable it to evaluate compliance with the recommendations. One
           example of an established DOD metric is the number of briefings to
           new unit commanders and senior enlisted personnel on domestic
           abuse and child abuse. A DOD Family Advocacy Program official
           stated that this metric is intended to be an output measure
           related to the Government Performance and Results Act24 and is
           only indirectly related to a recommendation in the task force
           reports. This metric is not a results-oriented performance measure
           that would capture the results or evaluate the effectiveness of
           the briefings in increasing these officers' awareness of domestic
           violence issues. Without an overall management framework for
           monitoring and reporting on implementation, DOD and Congress will
           continue to have limited visibility and oversight to evaluate the
           changes associated with the recommendations and to make
           improvements. As a result, DOD may be unable to ensure that all of
           the accepted task force recommendations are implemented to produce
           the desired improvements in assisting domestic violence victims
           and holding offenders accountable.

           Understanding the size and nature of domestic violence is
           essential to DOD's ability to improve its response to this
           important issue. Yet the department currently lacks the
           information needed to determine reported domestic violence
           incidents. To date, DOD does not have a database containing
           complete information on reported incidents and what actions are
           being taken to discipline those who commit these violent acts. In
           addition, the lack of sufficient personnel threatens the timely
           implementation of the pending task force recommendations. Further,
           the absence of clear and effective communication of the policy
           changes made in response to the task force recommendations has
           hindered servicemembers' awareness of their responsibilities in
           providing assistance to victims and holding offenders accountable.
           The failure to track the training of the chaplains who respond to
           domestic violence incidents impairs DOD's visibility over whether
           chaplains are being provided with the tools to effectively deal
           with domestic violence and understand their obligations concerning
           privileged communications. Finally, the absence of an oversight
           framework limits DOD's ability to assess its efforts to achieve
           the desired results in improving the prevention of and response to
           domestic violence. Without further management action to address
           all of these deficiencies, DOD may be unable to effectively
           identify and respond to concerns about domestic violence among
           servicemembers.

           To enhance implementation of the task force recommendations and
           improve the effectiveness of domestic violence efforts, we
           recommend that the Secretary of Defense direct the Under Secretary
           of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to take the following seven
           actions:

           o  Develop, in conjunction with the service secretaries, a
           comprehensive management plan to address deficiencies in the data
           captured in DOD's domestic violence database that focuses on
           ensuring that accurate and complete data exist and that all
           instances in the Defense Incident-Based Reporting System and
           Family Advocacy Program Central Registry are matched and reported
           annually, as required in DOD's Manual 7730.47-M;
           o  take appropriate steps, in conjunction with the service
           secretaries, to ensure all commander actions related to domestic
           violence incidents are entered in law enforcement systems;
           o  develop a plan to ensure adequate personnel are available to
           implement pending task force recommendations;
           o  establish a communication strategy for effectively informing
           DOD and service officials about new guidance implementing the task
           force recommendations, to include

                        o  issuing a revised DOD family advocacy program
                        directive that is consistent with interim guidance
                        for implementing the task force recommendations; and
                        o  clearly articulating its policy regarding the
                        distribution of military protective orders using a
                        method that will ensure consistent application by all
                        services and DOD;

           o  develop, in conjunction with the service secretaries,
           procedures and metrics to ensure that accurate, consistent, and
           timely domestic violence training data are collected for
           chaplains;
           o  develop, in conjunction with the service secretaries, chaplain
           guidance and training materials that highlight and clarify
           chaplain responsibilities concerning privileged communication; and
           o  develop and implement, in conjunction with the services, a
           DOD-wide oversight framework that includes a results-oriented
           evaluation plan for the implemented recommendations, and a process
           for ongoing monitoring of and reporting on implementation.

           In written comments on a draft of our report (reprinted in app.
           V), DOD expressed concern that GAO had attempted to define,
           differentiate, and prioritize what it considered important task
           force recommendations and had focused on perceived deficiencies
           rather than progress. The department further noted that GAO's
           review had assumed that DOD should implement all recommendations
           of the task force exactly as written and stated that after each
           report the department clearly indicated the recommendations it
           agreed with, did not agree with, and would study. DOD also stated
           that it never suggested that it could not or would not modify any
           of the task force recommendations. DOD noted that GAO had sought
           to penalize the department for deviating from the narrowest
           reading of individual recommendations. We disagree. To the
           contrary, our report is very clear on the progress the department
           has made in implementing the recommendations. Moreover, the scope
           and methodology for our study (explained in app. I) clearly
           details the approach that we used to assess this progress.
           Further, in mentioning that the recommendations vary in their
           relative importance to improving DOD's efforts to address domestic
           violence issues, we simply noted that the implementation of some
           recommendations may not have as significant an impact on DOD's
           efforts as will the implementation of others. Additionally, we did
           not assume that DOD could not modify task force recommendations.
           As the report states, when counting recommendations as being
           completed by DOD, we included instances where actions taken to
           implement the recommendations were different from language that
           the task force suggested. Specifically, we stated that completed
           actions were grouped into two categories: (1) actions that DOD
           took that directly implemented the task force recommendations and
           (2) completed actions taken that DOD believed met the intent of
           the recommendation. We also made it clear in our report that there
           were 40 recommendations that DOD did not take action on because
           they did not agree with the recommendation, the recommendation was
           not applicable to DOD, or the recommended action was already being
           done. In addition, we noted in the report that there were 60
           recommendations where DOD had actions pending.

           Regarding our recommendations, DOD concurred that the department
           would take steps to ensure commander actions related to domestic
           violence are entered into law enforcement databases, develop a
           plan to ensure adequate personnel are available to implement
           pending task force recommendations, and establish an oversight
           framework to monitor progress and implementation of the task force
           recommendations. DOD stated that it had issued policy requiring
           documentation of commander actions, conducted training to
           communicate this policy, and would continue to aggressively
           communicate this policy to the services. DOD also indicated that
           it was committed to providing resources to implement the task
           force recommendations and had requested extensions for current
           personnel to do so. We believe this approach could satisfy the
           intent of our recommendation if DOD has a defined plan to provide
           personnel in the event the requested personnel extensions are not
           granted. DOD said it is developing an initial oversight process to
           monitor progress and implementation and it anticipates completion
           will be in fiscal year 2007 or 2008. As DOD develops this
           oversight process, we reiterate the need for it to include
           results-oriented performance measures that can enable it to
           evaluate compliance with the recommendations.

           DOD partially concurred with our recommendation calling for the
           Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to develop
           a comprehensive management plan to address data deficiencies in
           DOD's domestic violence database. DOD stated that this
           recommendation is more appropriately directed to the Military
           Departments, noting that it requires the services to submit data,
           but that the systems used by the services are insufficient and
           unfunded. We agree. While we believe the recommendation is
           appropriately directed to the Under Secretary of Defense for
           Personnel and Readiness, who has oversight and stewardship for the
           department's centralized domestic violence database, we have
           expanded our recommendation to include the services.

           DOD partially nonconcurred with our recommendation to establish a
           communication strategy for informing DOD and service officials
           about new guidance, to include issuing a revised family advocacy
           program directive and reconsidering the task force recommendation
           on providing military protective orders to law enforcement and
           family advocacy officials and communicating associated policies to
           the services. Specifically, DOD agreed with the need to issue a
           revised Family Advocacy Program Directive. However, the department
           disagreed with the need to reconsider the task force's
           recommendation to provide military protective orders. DOD stated
           that it has considered the issue of providing the protective
           orders to law enforcement and family advocacy officials and
           continued to believe there are privacy concerns. Given its
           position, we are no longer recommending that the department
           reconsider the task force's recommendation in that regard.
           However, because of inconsistent practices found among the
           services regarding whether distribution of these orders was
           allowed to law enforcement and family advocacy personnel, we
           continue to believe that the department needs to clarify and more
           effectively communicate its policy on this issue and, therefore,
           we are revising our recommendation to emphasize this point.

           DOD partially nonconcurred with our recommendation to develop, in
           concert with the Family Advocacy Director and four service family
           advocacy program managers, guidance and training materials
           clarifying chaplain responsibilities regarding privileged
           communications. DOD stated that the family advocacy program
           managers were not the proponents of chaplains' privileged
           communications. We agree and have modified our recommendation to
           include the services, as well as the Under Secretary of Defense
           for Personnel and Readiness. DOD also stated that each military
           department has policy addressing clergy confidentiality and DOD
           does not contemplate developing such a policy. DOD further stated
           that it has issued policy requiring this training and noted that
           DOD and the services will continue to address this issue at
           relevant training events. Because we, like the task force, found
           some chaplains did not fully understand their responsibilities
           concerning privileged communications, we continue to believe that
           DOD needs to issue a departmentwide policy on privileged
           communications, and that DOD and the services need to develop
           training materials that highlight and clarify chaplain
           responsibilities for these communications.

           DOD nonconcurred with our recommendation to develop, in concert
           with the Family Advocacy Director, four service family advocacy
           program managers, and the chaplaincy board, procedures and metrics
           to ensure that accurate, consistent, and timely domestic violence
           training data are collected for chaplains. DOD stated that the
           family advocacy program managers were not the proponents of
           chaplain training and that this recommendation is more
           appropriately directed to the Military Departments. We agree.
           While we believe the recommendation is appropriately directed to
           the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, who
           has oversight over domestic abuse matters, we have modified our
           recommendation to include the services. In addition, DOD further
           stated that it is inappropriate for the department to engage in
           routine operator-level activity such as tracking training
           statistics. However, it is important to note that the Under
           Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness has established
           metrics for tracking domestic abuse training for commanding
           officers and senior enlisted personnel and, in light of this fact,
           we continue to believe that the Under Secretary of Defense for
           Personnel and Readiness should also maintain procedures and
           metrics on domestic abuse training for chaplains, who play a
           critical role in assisting domestic violence victims.

           We are sending copies of this report to the Secretary of Defense
           and the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness. We
           will also make copies available to others upon request. In
           addition, the report will be available at no charge on the GAO Web
           site at http://www.gao.gov .

           Should you or your staff have any questions about this report,
           please contact me at 202-512-6304. Contact points for our Offices
           of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the
           last page of this report. Key contributors to this report are
           listed in appendix VI.

           Valerie C. Melvin Acting Director, Defense Capabilities and
           Management

           In conducting our review of the Department of Defense's (DOD)
           progress in implementing recommendations from the Defense Task
           Force on Domestic Violence, we contacted officials at the Office
           of the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness'
           Family Violence Policy Office and Family Advocacy Program, Defense
           Manpower Data Center; Army's Military Community and Family Support
           Center; Commander of Naval Installations; Office of the Assistant
           Secretary of the Air Force for Force Management and Personnel; and
           Marine Corps Family Advocacy Program Office. We made 15 site
           visits to installations in the United States, Germany, Japan, and
           South Korea to collect documentation to assess the status of DOD's
           efforts to implement the Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence's
           recommendations. We selected locations based on the number of
           incidents of spouse abuse reported to the Family Advocacy Program
           office from 2000 through 2004,1 suggestions from DOD and service
           officials, and location-i.e., at least two installations per
           service domestically and at least one per service overseas. At
           each of these locations, we interviewed key personnel in positions
           such as installation commanders, provost marshals, commanders,
           legal officers, victim advocates, family advocacy managers, health
           care officials, chaplains, military police, and senior enlisted
           personnel because they were identified by the task force as having
           specific responsibilities pertaining to victim safety or offender
           accountability. Table 1 lists all of the installations we visited.

           Table 1: Installations Visited During the Review

           Source: GAO.

           To determine DOD's ability to report on domestic violence in the
           military and the disciplinary actions taken by commanders to
           address these incidents, we reviewed and analyzed laws,
           directives, and other DOD and service policies and guidance for
           reporting domestic violence incidents including DOD's Manual for
           Defense Incident-Based Reporting System 7730.47-M and DOD's Manual
           for Child Maltreatment and Domestic Abuse Incident Reporting
           System 6400.1-M-1. We also reviewed and analyzed DOD domestic
           violence data obtained from the Defense Incident-Based Reporting
           System, Family Advocacy Program Central Registry, and reports to
           Congress on DOD domestic violence. To assess the reliability of
           the criminal and clinical data systems, we (1) reviewed existing
           information about the data and systems that produced them and (2)
           interviewed agency officials knowledgeable about the data. We also
           reviewed information on the collection methods used to gather,
           record, and report the data mentioned above and verified the
           reliability of the data in the Defense Incident-Based Reporting
           System and Family Advocacy Program Central Registry. We concluded
           that the data from both data systems were not complete enough to
           provide an accurate number of domestic violence incidents or
           commander actions.

           To determine the extent to which DOD has implemented the
           recommendations of the task force as well as the amount of
           resources provided to the office responsible for implementing the
           recommendations, we reviewed Defense Task Force on Domestic
           Violence reports and spoke with members of the defense task force
           that made the recommendations to DOD. In addition, we prepared a
           matrix summarizing the recommendations; obtained DOD's status in
           implementing the recommendations,2 along with supporting
           documentation and evidence to corroborate implementation; and we
           interviewed or conducted focus groups with officials at the
           selected installations mentioned above to understand the guidance
           and training received by the officials and assess how they are
           implementing the recommendations. We also obtained from the
           installations supporting documentation for many of the implemented
           recommendations, including copies of memoranda of agreements with
           civilian law enforcement agencies, training materials, and
           guidance on military and civilian protection orders. Furthermore,
           we interviewed officials at the DOD Family Violence Policy Office,
           the office responsible for implementing the recommendations, and
           examined budget information to ascertain the funding and resources
           provided to this office.

           To facilitate the data-gathering process for all four questions,3
           we developed and pretested our questions and data collection
           instruments at Fort Mead and Andrews Air Force Base, both located
           in Maryland. We identified the content of the instruments through
           a review of the task force report recommendations, service
           guidance, and other policy manuals. We ultimately used three types
           of data collection instruments at the 15 installations visited.
           Specifically:

           o  Focus group protocols were used to solicit information from two
           homogeneous groups: military police and senior enlisted personnel.
           The focus group protocol was used to increase the likelihood that
           the questions were asked and procedures were conducted in a
           standardized manner, regardless of which GAO analyst conducted the
           focus groups during the 15 site visits. For each focus group we
           required a minimum of 6-10 participants. Participants were assured
           of anonymity and therefore encouraged to openly share their
           opinions.
           o  Advanced questions were sent to six types of officials at the
           installations we visited: unit commanders, legal officials, Family
           Advocacy Program managers, victim advocates, chaplains, and health
           care officials. The questionnaires were sent ahead of our visit
           and these groups were asked to fill out the questionnaires and
           return them to us before the interview. The purpose of the
           questionnaires was to obtain specific information such as training
           and budget information.
           o  Separate discussion group interview protocols were created for
           eight types of officials: installation commanders, provost
           marshals, unit commanders, legal officials, Family Advocacy
           Program managers, victim advocates, chaplains, and health care
           officials. When possible, we also interviewed civilian law
           enforcement officials around the military installation. While some
           of the questions were the same or very similar for some issues,
           the content of the discussion group interview protocols was
           tailored to the type of official interviewed.

           To determine the efforts DOD has taken to ensure the
           confidentiality of victims and the education and accountability of
           commanding officers and chaplains, we used the methodology for the
           second question as well as reviewed and analyzed DOD's recently
           issued confidentiality policy, which provides limited
           confidentiality for victims. We also conducted discussion groups
           with commanding officers and chaplains at the installations
           visited to ascertain the training these officials have received
           and to address the accountability of these individuals. We
           reviewed and analyzed domestic violence training materials
           obtained from installation officials and officials at the service
           training schools to determine (1) the efforts DOD takes to educate
           commanding officers and chaplains, (2) whether such training is
           standardized, and (3) whether the training covers topics
           recommended by the task force on domestic violence. Additionally,
           we reviewed accreditation reports for installation Family Advocacy
           Program programs, where available, and other materials documenting
           the effectiveness of training programs, such as reports to DOD on
           training metrics.

           To determine the extent to which DOD has developed an overall
           framework to guide and evaluate implementation, we interviewed
           officials in the DOD Family Violence Policy Office, which is the
           office responsible for implementing the defense task force
           recommendations. We also reviewed and analyzed DOD regulations and
           guidance and reports submitted to the OSD Family Advocacy Program
           office to ascertain if DOD has an overall framework to guide and
           evaluate implementation of the recommendations. The Government
           Performance and Results Act of 19934 and Standards for Internal
           Control in the Federal Government5 provided model criteria for
           determining the adequacy of the oversight framework.

           We conducted our review from July 2005 through March 2006 in
           accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.

           The Military Community and Family Policy Office has managed and
           provided the Family Violence Policy Office with approximately $23
           million to implement task force recommendations since mid-2003.
           Table II shows funding and projects for fiscal years 2003 through
           2005.

DOD's Ability to Report on Domestic Violence Incidents and Commander Actions Is
                          Hampered by Incomplete Data

6 Pub. L. No. 106-65, at 594 (1999).

7 Pub. L. No. 106-65, at 591 (1999).

8 An official in DOD's Law Enforcement Policy and Support Office told us
that the Defense Incident-Based Reporting System was designed and
constructed to collect and report crime data under a number of statutes,
including the Victims Rights and Restitution Act of 1990 and the Brady
Handgun Violence Prevention Act of 1994. We were told, however, that
because the services are not reporting information needed to make up the
total input to the law enforcement database, collection and/or reporting
for this are done manually "offline" instead of through the Defense
Incident-Based Reporting System.

9 DOD's Manual for Defense Incident-Based Reporting System, 7730.47M,
dated July 25, 2003, discusses requirements for the centralized database
on domestic violence.

10 Pub. L. No. 106-65, at 594 (1999).

11 Department of Defense Directive-Type Memorandum, Establishment of DOD
Database on Domestic Violence and Procedures for Submitting Domestic
Violence Data, June 8, 2000.

 Resources Provided and Progress Made, but Challenges Exist to Implementing the
                      Remaining Task Force Recommendations

Resources Provided for Office Overseeing Implementation of Recommendations

Progress Made in Implementing Domestic Violence Recommendations

12 This category also included special interest items such as the domestic
violence definition, prevention of domestic violence, severity of abuse,
recommended research, and process model.

Limited Personnel in Office Overseeing Implementation

Implementation Policies Not Effectively Communicated

13 See GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government,
GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: November 1999).

14 The special Web pages provide news and information for flag and general
officers-i.e., http://www.commanderspage.com ; while, another-i.e.,
http://www.militaryhomefront.dod.mil -provides servicemembers and their
families with information on all quality-of-life issues, including
domestic violence.

15 As of March 30, 2006, DOD had posted Directive Type Memoranda on its
official Directives Web site; however, this link only had 3 of the 16
domestic violence directive-type memoranda.

16 See GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government,
GAO/AIMD-00-21.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: November 1999).

17 The Privacy Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-579 (1974) is the primary act
that regulates the federal government's use of personal information. It
places limitations on agencies' collection, disclosure, and use of
personal information in systems of records.

18 Army Regulation 608-18 (Sept. 27, 2004).

19 OPNAVINST 1752.2A (Jul. 17, 1996).

20 Congress established the transitional compensation program for abused
spouses/family members of military personnel as part of the National
Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 1994, Pub. L. No. 103-160, at 554
(1993). The law authorizes temporary payments for families in which the
servicemember has been discharged administratively or by court-martial for
dependent-related abuse.

 Steps Taken to Ensure Confidentiality and Provide Domestic Violence Training,
                         but Additional Efforts Needed

New Restricted Reporting Policy Not Yet in Force

Additional Efforts Are Needed to Ensure Training Is Received

21 A communication to a chaplain given as a formal act of religion or as a
matter of conscience that is made in confidence and not intended to be
disclosed to others is a privileged communication.

22 The Military Rule of Evidence 503, Communications to Clergy, states
that a person has a privilege to refuse to disclose in legal proceedings
and to prevent another from disclosing a confidential communication to a
clergy or to a clergyman's assistant if such a communication is made
either as a formal act of religion or as a matter of conscience.

    DOD Has Not Established an Oversight Framework to Monitor Compliance and
                   Evaluate Implementation of Recommendations

23 Accreditation is a process of education and improvement for service
organizations that are committed to achieving quality in management and
services. It demonstrates that the service has met accepted standards of
operation in the Family Advocacy Program.

                                  Conclusions

24 Pub. L. No. 103-62 (1993).

                      Recommendations for Executive Action

                       Agency Comments and Our Evaluation

Appendix I: Scope and Methodology Appendix I: Scope and Methodology

Service      Installation                                      
Army         Fort Bragg, North Carolina                        
                Fort Hood, Texas                                  
                Schofield Barracks, Hawaii                        
                Yongsan Garrison, South Korea                     
Navy         Naval Station, Norfolk, Virginia                  
                Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida          
                Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii               
                Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan                        
Marine Corps Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, California 
                Marine Corps Base, Hawaii                         
                Camp S. D. Butler, Japan                          
Air Force    Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio             
                Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii                     
                Ramstein Air Base, Germany                        
                Kadena Air Base, Japan                            

1 We did not verify these numbers.

2 We assessed DOD's progress in implementing the recommendations included
in its status matrix submitted on February 15, 2006. DOD continues to
complete recommendations and submitted an updated matrix March 21, 2006;
however, our time frames precluded us from corroborating this additional
information.

3 We assessed (1) DOD's ability to report on domestic violence incidents
in the military and disciplinary actions taken by commanders to address
these incidents, (2) the extent to which DOD has provided resources to the
office overseeing implementation of the task force's recommendations and
the extent to which the recommendations have been implemented, (3) the
specific actions that DOD has taken on the recommendations to ensure the
confidentiality of victims and the education and accountability of
commanding officers and chaplains, and (4) the extent to which DOD has
established an oversight framework to monitor compliance with and evaluate
implementation of the recommendations.

4 Pub. L. No. 103-62 (Aug. 3, 1993).

5 See GAO, Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government,
GAO/AIMD-0021.3.1 (Washington, D.C.: November 1999).

Appendix II: Resources Provided to Implement Task Force Recommendations
Appendix II: Resources Provided to Implement Task Force Recommendations

Table 2: Resources and Projects to Implement Task Force Recommendationsa

Projects       Purpose             FY 03       FY 04      FY 05       Total 
Marine Corps   Provide secure   $175,000               $175,000 
Web-enabled    Web for the                                      
reporting      Marine Corps                                     
system         child and                                        
                  spouse abuse                                     
                  reporting                                        
                  system                                           
Air Force      Fund a            250,000                250,000 
Central        comprehensive                                    
Registry for   development                                      
Child/Spouse   plan for                                         
Abuse          establishing                                     
                  an abuse                                         
                  central                                          
                  registry                                         
Marine Corps   Provide            76,000                 76,000 
case           Marines with                                     
management     case                                             
system         management                                       
software       software for                                     
                  managing                                         
                  child/spouse                                     
                  abuse reports                                    
Family         Fund a            400,000                400,000 
violence       DOD-wide                                         
prevention     domestic                                         
fund           violence                                         
                  public                                           
                  awareness                                        
                  campaign                                         
Family         Fund the          350,000                350,000 
advocacy       evaluation of                                    
conference     a 3-day joint                                    
                  service family                                   
                  advocacy                                         
                  training                                         
                  conference for                                   
                  about 600-650                                    
                  participants                                     
Family         Fund              200,000                200,000 
advocacy       initiatives                                      
demonstration  with potential                                   
project        for worldwide                                    
                  application to                                   
                  improve DOD's                                    
                  response to                                      
                  domestic                                         
                  violence                                         
Domestic       Fund marketing    600,000                600,000 
violence/child to reach                                         
abuse internet military                                         
support        members and                                      
                  their families                                   
                  on the topic                                     
                  of domestic                                      
                  violence                                         
Family         Fund a            535,094                535,094 
advocacy       Web-based                                        
training for   interactive                                      
commanders     domestic                                         
interactive    violence                                         
training       training for                                     
                  commanding                                       
                  officers and                                     
                  senior                                           
                  enlisted                                         
                  personnel                                        
Texas council  Fund a            429,000                429,000 
on family      standardized                                     
violence       domestic                                         
                  violence                                         
                  intervention                                     
                  public                                           
                  awareness                                        
                  hotline                                          
                  campaign                                         
Child abuse    Fund posters      100,000                100,000 
hotline        for child                                        
marketing      abuse and                                        
                  safety hotline                                   
Family         Fund a 5-day       81,154                 81,154 
advocacy       joint service                                    
command        family                                           
assistance     advocacy                                         
team training  command                                          
                  assistance                                       
                  training                                         
                  conference for                                   
                  70 people                                        
Family         Fund domestic                 155,000    155,000 
advocacy       violence                                         
demonstration  incident                                         
project        reduction                                        
                  projects such                                    
                  as                                               
                  collaboration                                    
                  among military                                   
                  and civilian                                     
                  police                                           
Victim         Fund travel        19,000     $23,100     42,100 
advocate                                                        
training for                                                    
chaplains                                                       
(travel costs)                                                  
Victim         Fund a series   2,640,906   2,640,906            
training for   of conferences                                   
professionals  for                                              
                  professionals                                    
                  in 2005                                          
Victim         Fund the        4,571,000   7,500,000  4,800,000  16,871,000 
advocates and  establishing,                                    
shelter        administering,                                   
                  and monitoring                                   
                  of                                               
                  installations                                    
                  that                                             
                  participate in                                   
                  the program to                                   
                  provide victim                                   
                  advocates                                        
                  and/or shelter                                   
                  services to                                      
                  victims of                                       
                  domestic                                         
                  violence                                         
Joint domestic Fund the                                 396,000     396,000 
violence       family abuse                                     
shelter        shelter in                                       
                  Hawaii                                           
Travel         Fund travel        75,000       3,500     11,000      89,500 
Total funding                 $7,842,248 $10,318,406 $5,230,100 $23,390,754 
per fiscal                                                      
year                                                            

Source: Department of Defense.

aProgram analysts in DOD's Military Community and Family Policy Office
noted that contract and staff costs were unknown for fiscal year 2003 and
staff costs were for a General Schedule 12 and 15 for both fiscal years
2004 and 2005.

Appendix III: 194 Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence Recommendations
Appendix III: 194 Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence Recommendations

Tables 3 through 7 contain the task force recommendations broken out by
descriptive categories: Community Collaboration, Education and Training,
Offender Accountability, Victim Safety, and Other. Each table groups the
recommendations, by our analysis of the Department of Defense's (DOD)
actions taken. We split the Completed Actions group into two sections (1)
actions that DOD took that directly implemented the task force
recommendations and (2) completed actions taken that they believe meet the
intent of the recommendation. The No Action Required group consists of
recommendations DOD classified as complete, but actually disagreed with
and took no action; recommendations DOD shows as having no action required
because the recommendation was not applicable to DOD; or those
recommendations where DOD indicated that the recommended actions were
already being done. The Pending Actions group consists of those
recommendations in which DOD, at the time of our review, was still working
on or weighing its response. Not all tables contain recommendations that
fit under each group identified above.

Table 3: Community Collaboration Recommendations

Completed actions                     
Recommendation                        Documentation to support that        
                                         implementation is complete           
Make violation of a valid civilian    Directive-Type Memorandum:           
order of protection by a military     Implementation of the Armed Forces   
member an offense under Uniform Code  Domestic Security Act, November 10,  
of Military Justice.                  2003                                 
Use standard Military Protective      Directive-Type Memorandum: Military  
Order.                                Protective Orders, March 10, 2004    
Require written Military Protective   Directive-Type Memorandum: Military  
Order.                                Protective Orders, March 10, 2004    
Require initial training for          Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
commanding officers with annual       Abuse Response and Intervention      
refreshers.                           Training for Commanding Officers and 
                                         Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
With Defense Task Force on Domestic   Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
Violence, develop standardized        Abuse Response and Intervention      
curricula.                            Training for Commanding Officers and 
                                         Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
Require initial domestic violence     Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
training for Senior enlisted          Abuse Response and Intervention      
personnel in key billets with annual  Training for Commanding Officers and 
refreshers.                           Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
With Defense Task Force on Domestic   Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
Violence, develop standardized        Abuse Response and Intervention      
curricula.                            Training for Commanding Officers and 
                                         Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
Task Force provided DOD with proposed Directive-Type Memorandum:           
language to send to Congress to amend Implementation of the Armed Forces   
Section 103, title 18, to make it a   Domestic Security Act, November 10,  
crime to violate a civilian order of  2003                                 
protection on federal property.       
Train commanding officers on Military Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
Protective Orders.                    Abuse Response and Intervention      
                                         Training for Commanding Officers and 
                                         Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004.                             
Forward law enforcement domestic      DOD provided documentation that the  
violence issues to Joint Security     Defense Enterprise-Wide Working      
Chiefs Counsel.                       Group and Joint Security Chiefs      
                                         Counsel consented to support         
                                         domestic violence efforts as a       
                                         result of meetings held with each on 
                                         March 19 and 24, 2003, respectively. 
Create, with Department of Justice,   DOD partnered with the Department of 
an initiative, including financial    Justice and Federal Law Enforcement  
incentives, to encourage              Training Center to create a          
collaborative agreements between      train-the-trainer module based on a  
civilian law enforcement/judicial     coordinated community response to    
agencies and military installations   domestic violence. In addition to    
in the areas of information sharing,  training, DOD and Office of Violence 
training material and opportunities,  Against Women at the Department of   
programs, and other domestic violence Justice are conducting coordinated   
resources.                            community response projects in two   
                                         communities with large military      
                                         populations, Jacksonville, FL (Navy) 
                                         and Clarksville, TN (Army).          
Explore use of state-of-the-art       DOD provided documentation that they 
training platforms such as Web-based  explored options and are developing  
training.                             Web-based domestic violence training 
                                         for commanding officers.             
Ensure maximum use of                 DOD responded that the services      
treatment/intervention resources in   report increased collaboration and   
civilian communities overseas when    use of host nation resources         
available and appropriate.            overseas, where available.           
Adopt and widely disseminate the      Directive-Type Memorandum:           
Commanding Officer's                  Establishing Protocols for Law       
Protocol/Guidelines.                  Enforcement and Command Responses to 
                                         Domestic Violence Involving Military 
                                         Members on Active Duty, October 22,  
                                         2004                                 
Seek partnerships to develop domestic Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
violence prevention and education     Abuse Response and Intervention      
programs.                             Training for Commanding Officers and 
                                         Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
Recommendation                        Documentation we found to support    
                                         actions taken that DOD believes met  
                                         the intent of the recommendation     
Amend DODD 6400.1 to require          Directive-Type Memorandum:           
installation/regional commanders to   Establishing Domestic Violence       
seek Memorandum of Understanding with Memoranda of Understanding Between   
local communities to address          Military and Local Civilian          
responses to domestic violence.       Officials, January 29, 2004          
Create an enclosure to DODD 6400.1    Directive-Type Memorandum:           
that provides examples of Memorandum  Establishing Domestic Violence       
of Understanding and guidance in      Memoranda of Understanding Between   
negotiating the creation and          Military and Local Civilian          
implementation of such memoranda.     Officials, January 29, 2004          
Require copy of military protective   Directive-Type Memorandum: Military  
order to be provided to victim within Protective Orders, March 10, 2004    
24 hours of issuance.                 provides a copy to the victim but    
                                         not in 24 hours.                     
Issue official instructions as        Directive-Type Memorandum:           
follows: Military installation        Establishing Domestic Violence       
officials should seek to establish    Memoranda of Understanding Between   
relationships which foster            Military and Local Civilian          
collaboration with community based    Officials, January 29, 2004          
services for victims of domestic      
violence; local law enforcement       
departments; local prosecutor's       
office(s); and local criminal, civil, 
and domestic violence court(s). The   
ultimate goal being the improvement   
of command awareness of domestic      
violence issues, improvement of the   
delivery of services to and safety of 
victims, and increased accountability 
of offenders.                         
Adopt the standard Military           Directive-Type Memorandum: Military  
Protective Order on page 32-33 of the Protective Orders, March 10, 2004    
Defense Task Force's Second Year      
Report.                               
Adopt a policy that commanding        Directive-Type Memorandum:           
officers remove and bar civilian      Establishing Protocols for Law       
domestic violence offenders from the  Enforcement and Command Responses to 
installation.                         Domestic Violence Involving Military 
                                         Members on Active Duty, October 22,  
                                         2004                                 
Require notification to gaining       Directive-Type Memorandum:           
commander of pending transfer of      Establishing Protocols for Law       
service member with open Family       Enforcement and Command Responses to 
Advocacy Program (domestic violence)  Domestic Violence Involving Military 
case to ensure needed services are    Members on Active Duty, October 22,  
available at new duty station.        2004, and Directive-Type Memorandum: 
                                         Domestic Abuse Response and          
                                         Intervention Training for Commanding 
                                         Officers and Senior Enlisted         
                                         Personnel, February 3, 2004          
Request that the Defense              DOD provided documentation that the  
Enterprise-Wide Working Group create  Defense Enterprise-Wide Working      
a sub working group of the Defense    Group and Joint Security Chiefs      
Criminal Investigative organizations  Counsel consented to support         
to address domestic violence issues.  domestic violence efforts as a       
                                         result of meetings held with each on 
                                         March 19 and 24, 2003, respectively. 
Establish procedures for returning    Directive-Type Memorandum:           
service/family members to continental Establishing Protocols for Law       
United States following domestic      Enforcement and Command Responses to 
violence incident depending on        Domestic Violence Involving Military 
severity and availability of          Members on Active Duty, October 22,  
services.                             2004. The National Defense           
                                         Authorization Act for Fiscal Year    
                                         2004, Pub. L. No. 108-136, at 571    
                                         (2003), Travel and Transportation    
                                         for Dependents Relocating for        
                                         Reasons of Personal Safety,          
                                         stipulates that a spouse victim of   
                                         domestic violence can request        
                                         shipment of household goods and/or   
                                         motor vehicle provided (1) a         
                                         commander determines the member      
                                         committed the abuse in question, (2) 
                                         a safety plan and counseling have    
                                         been provided to the victim, (3) the 
                                         safety of the dependent is at risk,  
                                         and (4) relocation is advisable. The 
                                         member must consent in writing       
                                         before transportation will be        
                                         provided.                            
Develop a standard state-of-the-art   Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
curriculum for all commanding         Abuse Response and Intervention      
officers and key billeted senior      Training for Commanding Officers and 
enlisted personnel.                   Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
Ensure services provide written       Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
guidance to training/education        Abuse Response and Intervention      
commands for domestic violence        Training for Commanding Officers and 
training.                             Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004. DOD is also developing      
                                         Web-based training modules for       
                                         commanding officers.                 
No action required                    
Recommendation                        Documentation we found that does not 
                                         support implementation status as     
                                         complete but as disagreed and DOD's  
                                         support for no action required       
Establish standard policy of          DOD stated that enforcement of       
enforcement of warrants/orders on     warrants and orders varies so        
military installations.               significantly by location the issue  
                                         is best handled by local memorandum  
                                         of understanding instead of standard 
                                         DOD policy.                          
Establish and fund a domestic         DOD officials disagreed with the     
violence response coordinator         recommendation and will not take     
position at each major installation.  action. DOD noted that tasks are     
                                         currently performed by a combination 
                                         of law enforcement personnel, victim 
                                         advocates, and Family Advocacy       
                                         Program staff.                       
Centrally record and track Military   DOD essentially disagreed with the   
Protective Orders.                    recommendation and will not take     
                                         action. DOD noted that Office of     
                                         Secretary of Defense determined it   
                                         would not be feasible to create      
                                         another database.                    
Require copies to Family Advocacy     DOD essentially disagreed with the   
Program and installation military     recommendation and will not take     
police.                               action. DOD stated in its August 8,  
                                         2005, report responding to the task  
                                         force recommendations that the       
                                         Privacy Act restricts distribution   
                                         of military protective orders and    
                                         that the victim must provide orders  
                                         to Family Advocacy Program and law   
                                         enforcement if desired. The Office   
                                         of Secretary of Defense and service  
                                         lawyers told us in interviews that   
                                         this distribution would not          
                                         necessarily be a violation of the    
                                         Privacy Act. The July 14, 2004,      
                                         Directive-Type Memorandum,           
                                         Clarifying Guidance Concerning the   
                                         DD Form 2873, Military Protective    
                                         Order, does not authorize            
                                         distribution to the Family Advocacy  
                                         Program or military police.          
Provide a list of suggested duties    DOD disagreed with the               
for the Domestic Violence Response    recommendation and will not take     
Coordinator.                          action. DOD stated that tasks are    
                                         currently performed by a combination 
                                         of law enforcement personnel, victim 
                                         advocates, and Family Advocacy       
                                         Program staff.                       
Recommend the establishing of such    DOD disagreed with the               
positions at installation level.      recommendation and will not take     
                                         action, but DOD identified it as     
                                         complete. DOD stated that tasks are  
                                         currently performed by a combination 
                                         of law enforcement personnel, victim 
                                         advocates, and Family Advocacy       
                                         Program staff.                       
Reconstitute DOD-level Family         DOD disagreed with the               
Advocacy Committee.                   recommendation and will not take     
                                         action, but identified as complete.  
                                         DOD stated that other means are      
                                         currently in place to achieve this.  
Require quarterly meetings of         DOD disagreed with the               
DOD-level Family Advocacy Committee.  recommendation and will not take     
                                         action. DOD stated that other means  
                                         are currently in place to achieve    
                                         this.                                
Require service-level Family Advocacy DOD disagreed with the               
Committees.                           recommendation and will not take     
                                         action. DOD stated that other means  
                                         are currently in place to achieve    
                                         this.                                
Require installation-level Family     DOD disagreed with the               
Advocacy Committee.                   recommendation and will not take     
                                         action. DOD stated that other means  
                                         are currently in place to achieve    
                                         this.                                
Charter DOD-level Family Advocacy     DOD disagreed with the               
Committee to collaborate among        recommendation and will not take     
services to improve services, victim  action. DOD stated that other means  
safety, and offender accountability.  are currently in place to achieve    
                                         this.                                
Select standardized delivery models   DOD essentially disagreed with the   
as specified for training.            recommendation and will not take     
                                         action. However, they issued         
                                         Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
                                         Abuse Response and Intervention      
                                         Training for Commanding Officers and 
                                         Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004, but this directive does not 
                                         address a standard delivery model.   
Request Congress enacts legislation   DOD stated that the recommendation   
making it a crime to disobey a        was directed toward Congress, but    
civilian order of protection on       OSD issued Directive-Type            
federal property.                     Memorandum: Implementation of the    
                                         Armed Forces Domestic Security Act,  
                                         November 10, 2003.                   
Pending actions                       
Make domestic violence Memorandum of  
Understandings with local communities 
an item of special interest for the   
DOD and Service Inspector Generals.   
Do not assign overseas service/family 
members undergoing domestic violence  
program unless services available in  
gaining command.                      
Do not assign overseas service/family 
members pending court action for      
domestic violence offense.            
Provide promotion materials that      
advertise family services that        
portray total community.              
Provide promotional materials in      
language and population served.       
Encourage installation                
representatives to coordinate with    
local, diverse organizations.         
Encourage input of foreign-born       
spouses in design of outreach         
materials on domestic violence.       
Evaluate Services "best practices."   

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data.

Table 4: Education and Training Recommendations

Completed actions                     
Recommendation                        Documentation we found to support    
                                         implementation as complete           
With Defense Task Force Domestic      Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
Violence, develop domestic violence   Abuse Identification and Assessment  
awareness education for all health    Training for Health Care Providers,  
care staff.                           February 6, 2004                     
Require initial domestic violence     Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
training for New Parent Support       Abuse Identification and Assessment  
Program nurses.                       Training for Health Care Providers,  
                                         February 6, 2004                     
Recommend that DOD issue a policy     Deputy Secretary of Defense issued   
memorandum regarding Domestic         Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
Violence.                             Violence, November 19, 2001          
DOD, with Defense Task Force on       Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
Domestic Violence, develops domestic  Abuse Training for Chaplains,        
violence training for chaplains.      January 29, 2004                     
Highlight senior leadership policy on Deputy Secretary of Defense issued   
nontolerance of domestic violence.    memorandum on Domestic Violence,     
                                         November 19, 2001                    
Implement standardized medical        Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
forensic training for health care     Abuse Identification and Assessment  
providers in first responder roles.   Training for Health Care Providers,  
                                         February 6, 2004                     
Explore state-of-the-art training     DOD responded that upon completion   
platforms such as Web-based training  of commander Web-based training      
for forensic medical training.        module, consideration will be given  
                                         to expanding this platform           
Develop standardized domestic         Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
violence training curriculum for      Abuse Training for Chaplains,        
chaplains using outline provided.     January 29, 2004                     
Recommendation                        Documentation we found to support    
                                         actions taken that DOD believes met  
                                         the intent of the recommendation     
Initiate domestic violence            Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
evidence-based training for Staff     Violence Prosecution Training, March 
Judge Advocates.                      18, 2002                             
Conduct Lautenberg Awareness          Directive-Type Memorandum:           
Campaign.                             Department of Defense Policy for     
                                         Implementation of Domestic Violence  
                                         Misdemeanor Amendment to the Gun     
                                         Control Act for Military Personnel,  
                                         November 27, 2002                    
Require annual Lautenberg Awareness   Directive-Type Memorandum:           
Education.                            Department of Defense Policy for     
                                         Implementation of Domestic Violence  
                                         Misdemeanor Amendment to the Gun     
                                         Control Act for Military Personnel,  
                                         November 27, 2002                    
Include domestic violence awareness   Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
education in basic officer and        Abuse Response and Intervention      
enlisted schools.                     Training for Commanding Officers and 
                                         Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
Include domestic violence awareness   Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
education in all professional         Abuse Response and Intervention      
military education schools, local     Training for Commanding Officers and 
training, etc.                        Senior Enlisted Personnel, February  
                                         3, 2004                              
With Chaplain working group and       Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic  
Defense Task Force on Domestic        Abuse Training for Chaplains,        
Violence, develop domestic violence   January 29, 2004                     
training for Chaplains' Basic Courses 
and ensure training for those         
overseas.                             
No action required                    
Recommendation                        Documentation we found that does not 
                                         support implementation status as     
                                         complete but as disagreed and DOD's  
                                         support for no action required       
DOD mandate transitional compensation DOD stated that this is already      
awareness education for spouses.      being done. Since Congress           
                                         established the transitional         
                                         compensation program, the services   
                                         have routinely educated dependent    
                                         family members about it.             
Emphasize the need to reach spouses   DOD stated that Family Advocacy      
residing off the installation.        Program provides outreach to spouses 
                                         residing off of the installation.    
Ensure cultural diversity education   DOD stated that cultural diversity   
for those overseas.                   education is provided by local,      
                                         national, and family center staff.   
Request Congress fully fund New       DOD stated that it had previously    
Parent Support Program.               requested and been denied full       
                                         funding for New Parent Support       
                                         Program.                             
The Defense Task Force on Domestic    DOD noted that the recommendation is 
Violence Victim Safety Workgroup      for the Defense Task Force on        
continues to investigate the issue of Domestic Violence, not DOD.          
transitional compensation.            
Pending actions                       
Develop domestic violence             
instructions for initial training for 
military police.                      
Ensure local military police patrol   
officers receive domestic violence    
training.                             
Create domestic violence mobile       
training teams for military police.   
Develop a list of state-of-the-art    
domestic violence equipment for       
military police.                      
Study adoption of indicator-based     
screening for domestic violence.      
Provide law enforcement first         
responders with audio visual          
equipment.                            
Provide training on the use of audio  
visual equipment.                     
Develop policy on clergy              
confidentiality.                      
Develop standard DOD policy on clergy 
confidentiality.                      

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data.

Table 5: Offender Accountability Recommendations

Completed actions             
Recommendation                Documentation we found to support
                                 implementation as complete
Investigate every domestic    Directive-Type Memorandum: Establishing
violence incident to          Protocols for Law Enforcement and Command
determine if a crime was      Responses to Domestic Violence Involving
committed.                    Military Members on Active Duty, October 22,
                                 2004       
Ensure services comply with   Directive-Type Memorandum: Enlistment
interim guidance on waivers   Waivers for Domestic Violence-Related
for domestic violence-related Convictions, January 22, 2002
convictions.                  
Review the Lautenberg         A 2001 Office of Undersecretary of Defense
waivers.                      Personnel and Readiness review of service
                                 enlistment waivers found the Services to be
                                 in compliance with the interim guidance
                                 concerning Lautenberg and enlistment
                                 waivers.   
Develop guidance for formal   Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic Violence
and informal fatality         and Child Abuse Fatality Reviews, February
reviews.                      12, 2004   
Require results and system    Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic Violence
change recommendations to be  and Child Abuse Fatality Reviews, February
completed in a timely manner. 12, 2004   
Evaluate data collection      Evaluation determined Defense Incident-Based
methods.                      Reporting System and Family Advocacy Program
                                 Central Registry are not interchangeable and
                                 forced substitution would be a mistake.
Establish a law enforcement   Directive-Type Memorandum: Establishing
protocol for domestic         Protocols for Law Enforcement and Command
violence investigations.      Responses to Domestic Violence Involving
                                 Military Members on Active Duty, October 22,
                                 2004       
Incorporate into education    Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic Abuse
programs factors for legal    Response and Intervention Training for
and commanding officers to    Commanding Officers and Senior Enlisted
consider in responding to     Personnel, February 3, 2004
domestic violence as a crime. 
Recommendation                Documentation we found to support actions
                                 taken that DOD believes met the intent of
                                 the recommendation
Develop guidance to capture   DODD 7730.47 Defense Incident-Based
data required by Section 594, Reporting System establishes guidance to
Public Law 106-65.            capture data required by National Defense
                                 Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2000, Pub.
                                 L. No. 106-65, at 594 (1999).
Formally evaluate repeat      Directive-Type Memorandum: Domestic Abuse
offenders/treatment failures  Response and Intervention Training for
for continued service.        Commanding Officers and Senior Enlisted
                                 Personnel, February 3, 2004
Issue final Lautenberg        Directive-Type Memorandum: Department of
guidance.                     Defense Policy for Implementation of
                                 Domestic Violence Misdemeanor Amendment to
                                 the Gun Control Act for Military Personnel,
                                 November 27, 2002
Develop guidelines for        Directive-Type Memorandum: Establishing
commanding officers in        Protocols for Law Enforcement and Command
domestic violence             Responses to Domestic Violence Involving
substantiation                Military Members on Active Duty, October 22,
determinations.               2004. DOD later responded that since
                                 commanders are required to consult with
                                 legal, this is an automatic process because
                                 the military attorneys consult the Uniformed
                                 Code of Military Justice and the Manual for
                                 Courts Martial and this document contains a
                                 list of factors to consider when determining
                                 whether to substantiate a case.
No action required            
Recommendation                           Documentation we found that does  
                                            not support implementation status 
                                            as complete but as disagreed and  
                                            DOD's support for no action       
                                            required                          
Study whether Defense Incident-Based     DOD disagreed with the intent of  
Reporting System should replace the      this recommendation and said the  
Family Advocacy Program central          study determined that Defense     
registry.                                Incident-Based Reporting System   
                                            and the Family Advocacy Program   
                                            central registry are not          
                                            interchangeable, and forced       
                                            substitution of one for the other 
                                            would be a mistake.               
Expand Family Advocacy Program database  DOD disagreed with the need to    
to comply with section 594 requirements  use the Family Advocacy Program   
if Defense Incident-Based Reporting      database to meet the requirements 
System is delayed.                       of section 594 of Pub. L. No.     
                                            106-65 (1999).                    
Fatality reviews.                        DOD stated that the Defense Task  
                                            Force on Domestic violence made   
                                            no specific recommendations, but  
                                            pledged to continue researching   
                                            issue in conjunction with DOD's   
                                            goal of implementing domestic     
                                            violence fatality reviews.        
Pending actions                          
Train law enforcement, legal, and        
command to collaborate on domestic       
violence crime determination.            
Require comprehensive, effective         
batterer intervention.                   
Develop criteria for differing           
interventions.                           
Develop criteria for risk/lethality      
assessments.                             
Develop criteria for success in offender 
behavior after intervention.             
Require domestic violence program        
evaluation.                              
Establish advisory committee to oversee  
program evaluation.                      
Establish a protocol for evaluating      
field-based domestic violence programs.  
Use regional oversight and monitoring    
visits.                                  
With organizations experienced in        
domestic violence prevention programs,   
develop an ongoing domestic violence     
awareness campaign.                      
Target a program of domestic violence    
education to grades E1-E4.               
With Department of Defense Education     
Activity incorporate domestic violence   
awareness into dependent schools.        
Incorporate criteria provided by Defense 
Task Force on Domestic Violence into     
policy update for domestic violence case 
management.                              
Fully implement Defense Incident-Based   
Reporting System at the earliest         
possible date.                           
Seek to improve civil-military           
cooperation to foster victim safety.     
Work with the Department of Justice to   
implement Military Extraterritorial      
Jurisdiction Act of 2000 to ensure       
proper emphasis for domestic violence.   

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data.

Table 6: Victim Safety Recommendations

Completed actions                           
Recommendation                              Documentation we found to      
                                               support implementation as      
                                               complete                       
Working with Services and Defense Task      Under Secretary of Defense for 
Force on Domestic Violence expand the       Personnel and Readiness issued 
availability of the National Domestic       a policy memorandum: Domestic  
Violence Hotline.                           Violence Awareness Month,      
                                               October 1, 2004, and           
                                               Directive-Type Memorandum:     
                                               Domestic Abuse Victim Advocacy 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005     
                                               highlights the importance and  
                                               availability of the National   
                                               Domestic Violence Hotline.     
Working with Services and Defense Task      Training and information has   
Force on Domestic Violence expand the       been provided to National      
availability of National Domestic Violence  Domestic Violence Hotline.     
Hotline by providing specialized marketing  
and outreach including 1) ensuring that the 
hotline information and community domestic  
violence resources are included in the      
materials issued by family services, health 
care, Family Advocacy Program, law          
enforcement, as well as the relevant        
policies communicated from the commanding   
officers. Identifying information necessary 
to enable the National Domestic Violence    
Hotline to assist military spouse/partner   
callers who are victims of domestic         
violence, to incorporate the provision of   
appropriate training to the hotline staff.  
Explore options to create system of         Deputy Secretary of Defense    
confidential services for victims of        issued Directive-Type          
domestic violence.                          Memorandum: Restricted         
                                               Reporting Policy for Incidents 
                                               of Domestic Abuse, January 22, 
                                               2006                           
Include in installation welcome packets     DOD responded that services    
information on domestic violence.           routinely include domestic     
                                               violence information, Family   
                                               Advocacy Program and local     
                                               community service information, 
                                               and information on the         
                                               National Domestic Violence     
                                               Hotline in installation        
                                               welcome packets.               
Issue specific information on Family        DOD responded that Services    
Advocacy Program services.                  routinely include domestic     
                                               violence information, Family   
                                               Advocacy Program and local     
                                               community service information, 
                                               and information concerning the 
                                               National Domestic Violence     
                                               Hotline in installation        
                                               welcome packets.               
Direct Services to advise domestic violence Directive-Type Memorandum:     
victims of legal resources.                 Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005     
Document that information on legal          Directive-Type Memorandum:     
resources was provided.                     Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005     
Collaborate with National Domestic Violence DOD provided documentation     
Hotline in assessing materials to expand    that they have collaborated    
awareness and use of hotline.               and will continue ongoing      
                                               collaboration with the         
                                               National Domestic Violence     
                                               Hotline.                       
Pursue funding for marketing outreach.      DOD provided documentation     
                                               that, at the time of our       
                                               review, there were two         
                                               domestic violence awareness    
                                               programs funded and one is     
                                               specifically with National     
                                               Domestic Violence Hotline.     
Explore hotlines overseas.                  DOD responded that Military    
                                               One Source is accessible at    
                                               all military locations.        
Mandate that each Service provide and       Directive-Type Memorandum:     
emphasize a Victim Advocate Program.        Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005,    
                                               based in part on results of    
                                               feasibility study.             
Seek statutory authority for payment of     Pub. L. No. 108-136, at 571    
travel expense, shipment of household       (2003), provides the statutory 
goods, and, when overseas, privately owned  authority and stipulations     
vehicle, for victims when warranted.        specified in the               
                                               recommendations, and are       
                                               reflected in Joint Federal     
                                               Travel Regulation change       
                                               number 208, June 1, 2004.      
Specify certain minimum stipulations on     Pub. L. No. 108-136, at 571    
authority.                                  (2003) provides the statutory  
                                               authority and stipulations     
                                               specified in the               
                                               recommendations, and are       
                                               reflected in Joint Federal     
                                               Travel Regulation change       
                                               number 208, June 1, 2004.      
Develop policy for safety plans by the      Directive-Type Memorandum:     
Services.                                   Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005     
Adopt safety plan provided by the Defense   Directive-Type Memorandum:     
Task Force on Domestic Violence.            Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005     
Ensure availability of victim advocates to  DOD and Services have civilian 
aid in safety planning and risk             employees and contracts in     
assessments.                                place to ensure availability   
                                               of Victim Advocates.           
Ensure access to either on- or              Directive-Type Memorandum:     
off-installation sheltering services.       Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005,    
                                               and Directive-Type Memorandum: 
                                               Establishing Protocols for Law 
                                               Enforcement and Command        
                                               Responses to Domestic Violence 
                                               Involving Military Members on  
                                               Active Duty, October 22, 2004  
Ensure dissemination of shelter             Directive-Type Memorandum:     
information.                                Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005,    
                                               and Directive-Type Memorandum: 
                                               Establishing Protocols for Law 
                                               Enforcement and Command        
                                               Responses to Domestic Violence 
                                               Involving Military Members on  
                                               Active Duty, October 22, 2004  
Develop policy emphasizing                  Directive-Type Memorandum:     
self-determination in safety planning.      Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
                                               Program, February 17, 2005,    
                                               and Directive-Type Memorandum: 
                                               Establishing Protocols for Law 
                                               Enforcement and Command        
                                               Responses to Domestic Violence 
                                               Involving Military Members on  
                                               Active Duty, October 22, 2004  
Ensure all continental United States Family Directive-Type Memorandum:     
Advocacy Program staff know about local     Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate 
shelters.                                   Program, February 17, 2005,    
                                               and Directive-Type Memorandum: 
                                               Establishing Protocols for Law 
                                               Enforcement and Command        
                                               Responses to Domestic Violence 
                                               Involving Military Members on  
                                               Active Duty, October 22, 2004  
Recommendation                              Documentation we found to      
                                               support actions taken that DOD 
                                               believes met the intent of the 
                                               recommendation                 
Develop policy on who should be removed     Directive-Type Memorandum:     
from military housing following a domestic  Establishing Protocols for Law 
violence incident.                          Enforcement and Command        
                                               Responses to Domestic Violence 
                                               Involving Military Members on  
                                               Active Duty, October 22, 2004  
Issue statement from Secretary of Defense   Office of Secretary of Defense 
on victim safety.                           memorandum, Domestic Violence  
                                               November 19, 2001              
Issue specific information on National      DOD response that services     
Domestic Violence Hotline and local         routinely include domestic     
community domestic violence services.       violence information, Family   
                                               Advocacy Program and local     
                                               community service information, 
                                               and information on the         
                                               National Domestic Violence     
                                               Hotline in installation        
                                               welcome packets.               
Include specific language provided by       Directive-Type Memorandum:     
Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence on  Domestic Abuse Response and    
DOD issuance on removal of servicemember    Intervention Training for      
victim from housing following a domestic    Commanding Officers and Senior 
violence incident.                          Enlisted Personnel, February   
                                               3, 2004, and Establishing      
                                               Protocols for Law Enforcement  
                                               and Command Responses to       
                                               Domestic Violence Involving    
                                               Military Members on Active     
                                               Duty, October 22, 2004         
Develop guidance for commanding officers on Directive-Type Memorandum:     
transitional compensation pertaining to     Domestic Abuse Response and    
proper documentation in separation papers.  Intervention Training for      
                                               Commanding Officers and Senior 
                                               Enlisted Personnel, February   
                                               3, 2004                        
Ensure access to sheltering services within Directive-Type Memorandum:     
a reasonable distance at overseas           Establishing Protocols for Law 
locations.                                  Enforcement and Command        
                                               Responses to Domestic Violence 
                                               Involving Military Members on  
                                               Active Duty, October 22, 2004  
No action required                          
Recommendation                              Documentation we found that    
                                               does not support               
                                               implementation status as       
                                               complete but as disagreed and  
                                               DOD's support for no action    
                                               required                       
Adopt risk assessment tool provided by      DOD did not agree with this    
Defense Task Force on Domestic Violence.    recommendation.                
Require Services to monitor disposition of  According to DOD, Pub. L. No.  
separation cases due to domestic violence   108-136, at 572-574 (2003)     
so that they are properly documented.       meets this recommendation.     
                                               However, we are unaware of any 
                                               provisions in the public law   
                                               that direct the services to    
                                               monitor disposition of         
                                               separation cases due to        
                                               domestic violence so that they 
                                               are properly documented.       
Establish policy to provide military        After studying the issue, DOD  
sponsored shelter for up to 72 hours with   decided not to implement a     
no mandatory reporting.                     72-hour policy.                
Ensure first-responder law enforcement      DOD did not agree with this    
personnel receive specialized training in   recommendation.                
identifying primary aggressor.              
With Services and Defense Task Force on     Defense Task Force on Domestic 
Domestic Violence, review impact of         Violence review found that     
mandatory reporting on various factors.     mandatory reporting negatively 
                                               impacts reporting and that     
                                               there was no need to develop   
                                               additional criteria to measure 
                                               effectiveness. Instead,        
                                               Defense Task Force on Domestic 
                                               Violence recommended in the    
                                               third-year report that DOD     
                                               abandon the policy in favor of 
                                               nondisclosure.                 
Develop evaluation criteria to measure      Defense Task Force on Domestic 
effectiveness of mandatory reporting on     Violence review found that     
various factors.                            Mandatory Reporting negatively 
                                               impacts reporting and that     
                                               there was no need to develop   
                                               additional criteria to measure 
                                               effectiveness. Instead,        
                                               Defense Task Force on Domestic 
                                               Violence recommended in the    
                                               third-year report that DOD     
                                               abandon the policy in favor of 
                                               nondisclosure.                 
Recommend legislative changes to require    DOD responded that Pub. L. No. 
starting transitional compensation 14 days  108-136, at 572-574 (2003),    
after Uniform Code of Military Justice      reflects Office of Secretary   
discharge sentencing or initiation of       Defense input.                 
administrative separation action and        
authorize transitional compensation         
payments for 36 months for everyone.        
Seek partnership with Department of Justice Defense Task Force on Domestic 
and Department of Health and Human Services Violence subsequently decided  
to pilot a program to provide confidential  a pilot program was not needed 
community services to victims who are       (page 103 of second-year       
military spouses/partners.                  report).                       
Pending actions                             
Expand guidance to give Service Secretaries 
authority to grant transitional             
compensation in cases of extenuating        
circumstances consistent with the law.      
Direct Services to train legal assistance   
personnel on Violence Against Women Act,    
specifically immigration issues arising     
from domestic violence.                     
Direct Services to train legal assistance   
personnel on transitional compensation.     
Ensure appropriate regulations on this      
issue are changed and consider policy memos 
from Service Secretaries.                   
Collaborate with civilian victim agencies   
potentially impacted by military use.       
Initiate public affairs campaign on         
transitional compensation.                  
Ensure funding is reviewed for military     
shelters and meets the needs of the         
community being served.                     
Seek all alternative methods of funding for 
military shelters.                          

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data.

Table 7: Other Recommendations

Completed actions                       
Recommendation                          Documentation we found to support  
                                           implementation as complete         
DOD should work with Defense Task Force DOD noted that, in the third-year  
on Domestic Violence and the Services   report, Defense Task Force on      
to develop a new intervention process   Domestic Violence recommended an   
model.                                  intervention process model.        
Explore all options for hiring and      DOD noted that exploration was     
maintaining providers necessary to      complete and current recruiting    
assess/intervene in domestic violence   and retention practices were       
overseas.                               deemed sufficient.                 
Adopt and widely disseminate            Directive-Type Memorandum:         
nondisclosure policy provided by        Restricted Reporting Policy for    
Defense Task Force on Domestic          Incidents of Domestic Abuse,       
Violence.                               January 22, 2005                   
Address Privacy Act issues.             Deputy Secretary of Defense issued 
                                           Directive-Type Memorandum:         
                                           Restricted Reporting Policy for    
                                           Incidents of Domestic Abuse,       
                                           January 22, 2006.                  
Encourage commanding officers to        Deputy Secretary of Defense        
discuss issues relating to domestic     memorandum, November 19, 2001, and 
violence.                               Directive-Type Memorandum:         
                                           Establishing Protocols for Law     
                                           Enforcement and Command Responses  
                                           to Domestic Violence Involving     
                                           Military Members on Active Duty,   
                                           October 22, 2004                   
Ensure commanding officers scrutinize   Directive-Type Memorandum:         
domestic violence incidents to          Establishing Protocols for Law     
determine if Uniform Code of Military   Enforcement and Command Responses  
Justice was violated.                   to Domestic Violence Involving     
                                           Military Members on Active Duty,   
                                           October 22, 2004                   
Institute an annual DOD fatality review Pub. L. No. 108-136, at 576 (2003) 
summit.                                 and Directive-Type Memorandum:     
                                           Domestic Violence and Child Abuse  
                                           Fatality Reviews, February 12,     
                                           2004                               
Instruct the Services to establish,     Pub. L. No. 108-136, at 576 (2003) 
train, and maintain on-call             and Directive-Type Memorandum:     
headquarters-level fatality review      Domestic Violence and Child Abuse  
teams.                                  Fatality Reviews, February 12,     
                                           2004                               
Conduct domestic violence fatality      Pub. L. No. 108-136, at 576 (2003) 
reviews as recommended in prior reports and Directive-Type Memorandum:     
and compose teams as recommended.       Domestic Violence and Child Abuse  
                                           Fatality Reviews, February 12,     
                                           2004                               
Working with Services and Defense Task  Directive-Type Memorandum:         
Force on Domestic Violence, create a    Restricted Reporting Policy for    
policy to provide confidentiality to    Incidents of Domestic Abuse,       
victims of domestic violence.           January 22, 2006                   
Develop policy guidance on victim       Deputy Secretary of Defense issued 
advocate record-keeping.                Directive-Type Memorandum:         
                                           Restricted Reporting Policy for    
                                           Incidents of Domestic Abuse,       
                                           January 22, 2006.                  
Recommendation                          Documentation we found to support  
                                           actions taken that DOD believes    
                                           met the intent of recommendation   
In the initial report, the Defense Task Although there was no              
Force on Domestic Violence developed a  recommendation for DOD action, DOD 
definition of domestic violence to be   did study this issue and           
used as a working definition in         subsequently adopted a definition  
accomplishing its statutory mission.    of its own.                        
Incorporate the definition provided     DOD opted to craft its own         
into DOD policy and programs.           definition of domestic violence    
                                           which has been utilized in Under   
                                           Secretary of Defense for Personnel 
                                           and Readiness policy memoranda.    
Adopt and widely disseminate the Victim Directive-Type Memorandum:         
Advocate Protocol provided by the       Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate     
Defense Task Force on Domestic          Program, February 17, 2005         
Violence.                               
Implement a Victim Advocate Program as  Directive-Type Memorandum:         
recommended by the Defense Task Force   Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate     
On Domestic Violence.                   Program, February 17, 2005         
DOD should adopt and widely disseminate Directive-Type Memorandum:         
law enforcement protocol provided by    Establishing Protocols for Law     
the Defense Task Force on Domestic      Enforcement and Command Responses  
Violence.                               to Domestic Violence Involving     
                                           Military Members on Active Duty,   
                                           October 22, 2004                   
No action required                      
Recommendation                          Documentation we found that does   
                                           not support implementation status  
                                           as complete but as disagreed and   
                                           DOD's support for no action        
                                           required                           
Ensure overseas employment contracts    DOD initially stated that          
explain eligibility for family advocacy eligibility is tied to medical     
services on a space                     entitlement. They further noted    
available/fee-for-service basis.        that Family Advocacy Program       
                                           services are routinely discussed   
                                           at the New Family Orientation. See 
                                           Directive-Type Memorandum:         
                                           Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate     
                                           Program, February 17, 2005. In a   
                                           March 2006 message, DOD stated     
                                           that after review, the department  
                                           disagrees with this                
                                           recommendation.                    
Ensure foreign language ability and     DOD stated that their study        
cultural competencies are included in   determined that implementation of  
job qualification standards of          the recommendation is not          
personnel providing domestic violence   feasible. They further noted that  
services overseas.                      the Civilian Personnel Office does 
                                           not require language for Family    
                                           Advocacy Program position.         
                                           Cultural competence is achieved    
                                           via newcomer orientation and       
                                           on-going supervision.              
Ensure that Services have ongoing       DOD responded that intercultural   
cultural competence training programs   relations classes are required for 
for all personnel overseas.             new personnel upon their arrival   
                                           in outside continental United      
                                           States. Also, family centers offer 
                                           a variety of classes to            
                                           familiarize personnel with the     
                                           local culture.                     
Establish victim advocate certification DOD disagreed. DOD will continue   
program.                                to offer victim advocate training. 
Establish "appeal-type" mechanism for   DOD disagreed. Available           
victim advocates.                       mechanisms are sufficient (Service 
                                           Inspector General, Department of   
                                           Defense Inspector General, etc.).  
Discontinue collecting and reporting    DOD studied this recommendation    
severity-level data.                    and disagreed. Collection of data  
                                           will continue using the revised    
                                           severity definition.               
Instruct installations to include       DOD essentially disagreed with     
fatality review provisions in the       this recommendation stating that   
domestic violence Memorandum Of         the Directive-Type Memorandum      
Agreements with civilian jurisdictions. addressing memoranda of            
                                           understandings allows the Services 
                                           to adapt the sample MOUs to        
                                           address areas of civil/military    
                                           cooperation other than those       
                                           addressed in the memorandum.       
Issue 5.B Confidentiality.              DOD responded that there were no   
                                           recommendations for DOD in this    
                                           section of the Initial Report.     
Follow victim advocate recruiting and   After studying this                
retention guidance provided by the      recommendation, DOD determined     
Defense Task Force on Domestic          current recruiting and retention   
Violence.                               guidance addresses this            
                                           recommendation.                    
Convene a small, independent group with Pub. L. No. 108-136, at 575        
characteristics similar to Defense Task (2003), directed the Comptroller   
Force on Domestic Violence to review    General review of implementation.  
and report progress of implementation.  
Identify, evaluate, and prioritize all  DOD responded that program funds   
resources for domestic violence         are allocated annually by Congress 
programs.                               for Family Advocacy Program, New   
                                           Parent Support Program, and victim 
                                           advocates and that the department  
                                           continually evaluates program      
                                           funding.                           
Pending actions                         
Recommend that DOD partner with         
National Institute of Justice and the   
Centers for Disease Control and         
Prevention to further articulate        
research agenda and organize scientific 
communitywide requests for applications 
and peer review process of proposals.   
Facilitate and encourage publication in 
peer reviewed journals for completed    
military domestic violence research.    
This research agenda should not         
preclude funding of research into       
causes, consequences, and interventions 
of domestic violence in the military    
through other services' research        
funding mechanisms.                     
Recommend the following research        
priorities in the following areas:      
                                           
(1) Reliable differentiation of         
different types of abusers and abusive  
situations.                             
                                           
(2) What interventions work best for    
both offenders and victims?             
                                           
(3) Clarify how well the                
military-specific approach to domestic  
violence is working and where it should 
be modified.                            
                                           
(4) Determine actual versus reported    
prevalence of domestic violence.        
                                           
(5) Determine which approaches to       
domestic violence prevention work and   
for whom.                               
                                           
(6) Evaluate knowledge and consistency  
of key players.                         
                                           
(7) Determine efficacy of marital-type  
counseling for low-level domestic       
violence cases; study men's and women's 
use of violence; study impact of lack   
of confidentiality on disclosure and    
victim safety.                          
Adopt and widely disseminate the        
Offender Intervention Protocol provided 
by the Defense Task Force on Domestic   
Violence.                               
Establish standard offender             
intervention curriculum and train       
intervention staff.                     
Develop evaluation standards.           
Direct the services to conduct ongoing  
evaluations of offender intervention    
programs.                               
Collaborate with Department of Justice  
to support the testing of new models of 
intervention.                           
Examine needs of female offenders and   
develop a protocol and standard         
intervention curriculum for them.       
Replace the case review committee in    
adult domestic violence cases with a    
Domestic Violence Assessment and        
Intervention Team.                      
Develop DOD Domestic Violence           
Assessment and Intervention Team form.  
Adopt and widely disseminate Domestic   
Violence Conceptual Model provided by   
the Defense Task Force on Domestic      
Violence.                               
Develop joint Service effort for        
standardizing DOD Domestic Violence     
Prevention Program.                     
Develop policy for handling low-risk    
cases.                                  
Partner with civilian agencies and      
ensure joint Service involvement in     
pursuing the research recommendations.  
Ensure services conduct timely          
risk/lethality assessments to determine 
appropriate intervention and command    
response.                               
Ensure one DOD risk assessment grid.    
Ensure services establish a tracking    
mechanism.                              

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data.

Appendix IV: DOD's Directive-Type Memoranda and Policy Implementing the
Task Force Recommendations Appendix IV: DOD's Directive-Type Memoranda and
Policy Implementing the Task Force Recommendations

As of March 2006, the Department of Defense (DOD) has issued 16
directive-type memoranda to implement the task force's recommendations.
Table 8 lists the memoranda and dates of issuance. DOD also issued 3 other
memoranda that were not identified as directive-type memoranda but were
related to the task force recommendations. These included the Deputy
Secretary of Defense memorandum titled "Domestic Violence" dated November
19, 2001; the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Force Management Policy
memoranda titled "Enlistment Waivers for Domestic Violence-Related
Convictions" dated January 22, 2002; and the memorandum titled "Domestic
Violence Prosecution Training" dated March 18, 2002.1

Table 8: DOD's Memoranda Implementing Task Force Recommendations

       Directive-type memoranda                                   Date issued 
1   Establishment of DOD Database on Domestic Violence and     06/2000     
       Procedures for Submitting Domestic Violence Data           
2   Department of Defense Policy for Implementation of         11/27/02    
       Domestic Violence Misdemeanor Amendment to the Gun Control 
       Act for Military Personnel                                 
3   Department of Defense (DOD) Policy for Implementation of   11/27/02    
       Domestic Violence Misdemeanor Amendment to Gun Control Act 
       for DOD Civilian Personnel                                 
4   Implementation of the Armed Forces Domestic Security Act   11/10/03    
5   Domestic Abuse Training for Chaplains                      01/29/04    
6   Establishing Domestic Violence Memoranda of Understanding  01/29/04    
       Between Military and Local Civilian Officials              
7   Domestic Abuse Response and Intervention Training for      02/03/04    
       Commanding Officers and Senior Enlisted Personnel          
8   Domestic Abuse Identification and Assessment Training for  02/06/04    
       Health Care Providers                                      
9   Domestic Violence and Child Abuse Fatality Reviews         02/12/04    
10  Military Protective Orders                                 03/10/04    
11  Clarifying Guidance Concerning the DD Form 2873, Military  07/14/04    
       Protective Order                                           
12  Establishing Protocols for Law Enforcement and Command     10/22/04    
       Responses to Domestic Violence Involving Military Members  
       on Active Duty                                             
13  Domestic Abuse Victim Advocate Program                     02/17/05    
14  Notification of Department of Defense-Related Fatalities   03/04/05    
       Due to Domestic Violence or Child Abuse                    
15  Duration of Payment for Transitional Compensation for      06/14/05    
       Abused Dependents                                          
16  Restricted Reporting Policy for Incidents of Domestic      01/22/06    
       Violence                                                   

1 Travel guidance was also issued that related to one of the task force's
recommendation, titled "MAP 55-03 - Travel and Transportation for
Dependents Relocating For Reasons of Personal Safety", dated February 24,
2004.

Source: GAO analysis of DOD data.

Appendix V: Comments from the Department of Defense Appendix V: Comments
from the Department of Defense

Appendix VI: A Appendix VI: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments

                                  GAO Contact

Valerie C. Melvin, (202) 512-6304

                                Acknowledgments

In addition to the person named above, Laura L. Durland, Assistant
Director; James R. Bancroft; Renee S. Brown; Robert B. Brown; Carissa D.
Bryant; Marion A. Gatling; Nicole Harms; Amanda Miller; J. P. Newton;
Jeanett H. Reid; and Sonja S. Ware made key contributions to this report.

(350723)

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Highlights of GAO-06-540 , a report to congressional committees

May 2006

MILITARY PERSONNEL

Progress Made in Implementing Recommendations to Reduce Domestic Violence,
but Further Management Action Needed

Due to concerns about domestic violence in the military and its adverse
effect on mission readiness, Congress required the Department of Defense
(DOD) to establish a task force to assess the services' response to
domestic violence and recommend improvements. The task force issued three
reports containing 194 recommendations. The Fiscal Year 2004 National
Defense Authorization Act required GAO to review DOD's progress in
implementing the recommendations. This report discusses (1) DOD's ability
to report on domestic violence incidents and disciplinary actions, (2) the
resources DOD has provided to implement the recommendations, and (3) DOD's
specific actions to ensure victim confidentiality and the education of
commanding officers, senior enlisted personnel, and chaplains. GAO also
examined whether DOD has established an oversight framework to monitor
implementation.

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that DOD take actions to address domestic violence data
deficiencies, provide adequate personnel and a strategy for communicating
its policy changes, maintain chaplain training data, and establish an
oversight framework. DOD agreed with the thrust of our recommendations,
with the exception of one that dealt with policy that DOD stated involved
privacy concerns.

DOD's ability to report on domestic violence incidents and disciplinary
actions taken by commanders is hampered because the systems that the
department uses to collect domestic violence information do not contain
complete data. DOD's domestic violence database does not capture data from
all law enforcement systems and, therefore, does not provide a complete
accounting of reported incidents and actions taken by commanders.
Notwithstanding the task force's recommendation to report on the number of
domestic violence incidents, DOD and the services have not developed any
plans to address the data limitations, which do not allow for visibility
over domestic violence incidents. Without complete information on reported
incidents of domestic violence and the steps taken by commanders to
address these incidents, DOD will not know the size and nature of the
problems or be able to assess the effectiveness of its actions.

DOD has provided about $23 million to implement the recommendations and
has made progress in this regard. Specifically, GAO identified 94
recommendations of varying potential importance as completed, 60 as
pending further action, and 40 in which no action had been taken because
DOD either disagreed with the recommendations or determined that they were
not applicable to the department. Nonetheless, DOD faces challenges in
completing the pending recommendations in a timely manner because of
potential shortages of essential personnel in the office overseeing
implementation. In addition, DOD's method of communicating its policy
changes resulting from the recommendations has not ensured consistent
practices and widespread understanding of the policies among DOD and the
services.

While DOD is taking steps toward ensuring confidentiality for victims and
to train its personnel on domestic violence issues, additional efforts are
needed. To ensure victim confidentiality, DOD issued a policy, effective
April 22, 2006, allowing victims to report domestic violence to specified
people without notifying command. In addition, DOD issued guidance
requiring training and is providing several educational options. However,
data regarding which chaplains have completed training are not available
because the department and the services do not track this training.
Chaplains play a special role in assisting domestic violence victims and,
without complete training data, DOD may be unable to determine if
chaplains have been provided the needed resources to assist victims.

DOD has not established an oversight framework to monitor compliance with
and evaluate implementation of the task force recommendations. While the
task force recommended and DOD's draft domestic violence instruction
requires monitoring and evaluation of domestic violence efforts, DOD has
not established a process to do so. Without an overall management
framework, DOD and Congress have limited visibility and oversight to
evaluate DOD's implementation efforts and make needed improvements.
*** End of document. ***