Reserve Policy Board To Be Overhauled

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Reserve Policy Board To Be Overhauled

By Rick Maze - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Dec 19, 2008 13:03:44 EST

The Reserve Forces Policy Board that advises Pentagon leaders on National Guard and reserve issues would be revamped with fewer service members and more independence, under a plan approved by Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

The initiative, which requires congressional approval, revises membership in a way that makes active and reserve officers, who compose a majority of the current 24-member panel, would be in the minority on the slightly smaller 20-member panel.

The board also would report directly to the defense secretary rather than through the assistant defense secretary for reserve affairs, and its recommendations would go directly to Congress.

These steps fulfill a proposal made in a March 2007 report by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserves that the board needed to be made more independent and its structure reshaped to be similar to other high-profile advisory boards, like the Defense Science Board, the Defense Business Board and the Defense Policy Board, all of which directly advise the defense secretary.

The current 24-member board includes 19 flag and general officers, two from each reserve component and representatives from the active forces and the Joint Staff. The board structure approved by Gates, based on recommendations made by its current chairman, Kim Wincup, would have just seven uniformed officers with guaranteed slots, one from each reserve component, with a civilian chairman and 12 other members

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