§7014 Office of the Secretary of the Army

Summary

Creates an Office of the Secretary of the Army to help the Secretary do his work. The Office includes the Under Secretary, the Assistant Secretaries, the Administrative Assistant, the General Counsel, the Inspector General, the Chief of Legislative Liaison, the Army Reserve Forces Policy Committee, and any other offices set up by law or by the Secretary. The Office must be solely responsible inside the Office and the Army Staff for acquisition, auditing, the comptroller/financial work, information management, inspector general duties, legislative affairs, and public affairs. For each of those tasks, the Secretary must pick one office or entity inside the Office to run it. Those tasks cannot be put inside the Army Staff. The Secretary must also explain how each chosen office works with the Chief of Staff and make sure they give the Chief of Staff the support he needs. Other Army parts may give advice or help, but only under the direction of the office in charge. The head of the auditing office must have at least five years of accounting or auditing experience and the job is a career reserved position under 5 U.S.C. 3132(a)(8). The Office also has sole responsibility for research and development, except the Secretary may give the Army Staff the parts about military needs and test and evaluation. The Secretary must pick one office inside the Office to handle R&D and set how it supports the Chief of Staff. The Secretary must make sure the Office and the Army Staff do not duplicate functions assigned to one another. Staffing limits apply: no more than 3,250 total people in the Office and the Army Staff, no more than 1,900 active-duty Army officers, and no more than 67 general officers. Those limits do not apply in time of war, and the first two limits can be increased by 15 percent during a national emergency.