Military Equal Opportunity: Problems with Services' Complaint Systems Are Being Addressed By DOD.

Department of Defense DOD policy holds that equal opportunity EO is integral to the unity, readiness, and total defense capability of its forces. Unwarranted discriminatory behavior, including racial discrimination and sexual harassment, is not to be condoned or tolerated. Concern was expressed over increases in the number of discrimination complaints sent by servicemembers to the Congressional Committee on National Security. From fiscal year 1989 through 1993, the number of EO complaints reported by the services ranged from about 1,340 to over 3,600-averaging about 2,860 per year. Over the same period, the active duty military forces declined from about 2.1 million to 1.7 mIllion. The General Accounting Office GAO was asked to identify the services processes for handling EO complaints and determine whether there are opportunities for improving these processes. As part of its review, GAO conducted focus group sessions with more than 900 servicemembers across all four services to help gain an understanding of the complaint systems and EO environment from their perspective. This report refers to these focus groups and summarizes their results in appendix I. This report completes a three-part effort. In April 1995, GAO issued a report that identified previous DOD studies on discrimination in the military. In November 1995, GAO issued a report that examined the services military EO assessments.