A 75-year-old commission advocating for women in the armed services will be revived as part of a phased restoration of 39 Pentagon advisory groups put on pause earlier this year, Military Times has learned.
The move, detailed in an internal memo, follows a May memo that recommended termination for the Defense Advisory Committee on Women in the Services, as well as a number of other committees now set to be restored.
The Sept. 8 memo, signed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, also introduces four new advisory committees, including groups focused on artificial intelligence and education.
“To effectively manage DOD resources that support each DOD advisory committee, the Department will use a phased approach … for resuming committee operations and appointment of new advisory committee members,” Hegseth wrote. “Pending the nomination and appointment of new advisory committee members, each DOD Sponsor may authorize the resumption of operational support, to include funding, for each DOD advisory committee they sponsor.”
The new boards, labeled in the memo as “pending establishment,” include:
- Advisory Panel on the Requirements Process of the Department of Defense
- Board of Advisers for the Office of the Senior Official with Principal Responsibility for Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
- Managed Aquifer Recharge Working Group
- School Advisory Committees
The creation of each of these new groups was mandated by recent legislation.
In February, Military Times reported that all existing DOD advisory groups were put on notice and given a week to deliver to the Pentagon’s office of personnel and readiness a report on their mission, members and operating expenses, as well as a one-page summary of how the “advice of the committee benefited the Department, Federal Government, United States, warrior ethos, etc. and how it aligns to the President’s and Secretary of Defense’s objectives.”
The committees were also asked to justify their continued existence. The demand, which preceded a pause in all advisory committee activity, was issued as Hegseth worked to slash 8% from Pentagon operating expenses.
But the new Hegseth memo runs counter to most of these recommendations.
At deadline, Pentagon officials had not responded to a query about the timeline for the phased committee restoration or the reason why numerous boards previously highlighted for elimination had been spared.
A source with knowledge of planning said that the Pentagon was now nearing the end of Phase I in the timeline.
Committees whose activities have already fully or partially resumed, according to the memo, include:
- Advisory Board for National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency
- Advisory Board for the National Reconnaissance Office
- Board of Visitors for the U.S. Air Force Academy
- Corps of Engineers Western Water Cooperation Committee
- Gold Star Advisory Council
- National Security Emerging Technology Board
- National Security Education Board
- Strategic Research and Development Program Scientific Advisory Board
- U.S. Military Academy Board of Visitors
- U.S. Naval Academy Board of Visitors
The NGA and NRO boards, as well as the emerging technology board, had been recommended for termination in Salesses’ letter.
Those recommended for restoration in Phase I of the new plan include (with those previously recommended for termination starred):
- Defense Policy Board
- Defense Science Board
- Department of Defense Board of Actuaries*
- Department of Defense Medicare-Eligible Retiree Health Care Board of Actuaries*
- Department of Defense Wage Committee
- U.S. Strategic Command Strategic Advisory Group*
- Uniform Formulary Beneficiary Advisory Panel
Boards in Phase II Include:
- The Air University Board of Visitors
- The Army Education Advisory Committee
- The Board of Regents, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
- Board of Visitors, Marine Corps University
- Board of Visitors, National Defense University
- Defense Business Board
- Defense Health Board
- Defense Innovation Board
- Department of the Navy Science and Technology Board
- Education for Seapower Advisory Board
- Military Justice Review Panel
- Reserve Forces Policy Board
- Strategic and Critical Minerals Board of Directors
- U.S. Army Science Board
Phase III Includes:
- Advisory Committee on Arlington National Cemetery
- Advisory Panel on Community Support for Military Families with Special Needs
- Armed Forces Retirement Home Advisory Council
- Defense Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct
- Defense Advisory Committee on Investigation, Prosecution, and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces
- Defense Advisory Committee on Military Personnel Testing*
- DACOWITS*
The Defense Advisory Committee for the Prevention of Sexual Misconduct and the Defense Advisory Committee on the Investigation Prosecution and Defense of Sexual Assault in the Armed Forces were recommended for merger in Salesses’ letter; the Hegseth memo retains them and keeps them separate.
The committees in Phase IV, the final phase, include:
- Board on Coastal Engineering*
- Board of Visitors for the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation*
- Department of Defense Military Family Readiness Council
- Non-Federal Interest Advisory Committee*
- Tribal and Economically Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Committee*
Ultimately, only two of the 14 committees recommended for termination were not retained: The Table Rock Lake Oversight Committee and the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Advisory Board.
The retained groups, meanwhile, may still face change.
“As part of the resumption of operations, each DOD sponsor will review the charters of each advisory committee they sponsor to ensure alignment with the President’s priorities and those of the Department,” Hegseth’s memo states.
For some who have worked in and with the advisory committees, the back-and-forth of recent years — beginning with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin’s “zero-based review” in 2021 that put all the committees on ice and threatened to merge DACOWITS with other boards — has left them feeling protective of fragile progress.
Jessica Ruttenber, a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel and KC-135 refueling aircraft pilot, saw the Air Force Women’s Initiative Team she’d worked with to improve gear for female pilots shuttered by the Pentagon in January amid efforts to shut down DEI initiatives.
After reports that DACOWITS was next to close, she said she scrambled to make copies of all the studies and documentation DACOWITS has posted on its public site over the years.
“We’re at 16%, 17% women in the DOD on active duty. We’re allowed to be in everything but I don’t think we’re fully integrated into everything,” Ruttenber said.
“When you bring the warrior ethos, women are stepping up,” she said. “So, we need committees for women.”
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