§ 482. Readiness reports

§ 482. Readiness reports

(a) Reports and Briefings.—

(1) Not later than 30 days after the end of the second and fourth quarter of each calendar year, the Secretary of Defense shall submit to Congress a report regarding the military readiness of the active and reserve components and the Space Force. The Secretary of Defense shall submit each such report in writing and shall also submit a copy of each such report to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

(2) Not later than 30 days after the end of the first and third quarter of each calendar year, the Secretary of Defense shall provide to Congress a briefing regarding the military readiness of the active and reserve components and the Space Force.

(3) Each report under this subsection shall contain the elements required by subsection (b) for the quarter covered by the report, and each briefing shall address any changes to the elements described in subsection (b) since the submittal of the most recently submitted report.

(b) Required Elements.— The elements described in this subsection are each of the following:

(1) A description of each readiness problem or deficiency that affects the ground, sea, air, space, cyber, or special operations forces, and any other area determined appropriate by the Secretary of Defense.

(2) The key contributing factors, indicators, and other relevant information related to each identified problem or deficiency.

(3) The short-term mitigation strategy the Department will employ to address each readiness problem or deficiency until a resolution is in place, as well as the timeline, cost, and any legislative remedies required to support the resolution.

(4) A summary of combat readiness ratings for the key force elements assessed, including specific information on personnel, supply, equipment, and training problems or deficiencies that affect the combat readiness ratings for each force element.

(5) The total number of upgrades and the total number of downgrades of the combat readiness of a unit that were issued by the commander of the unit, disaggregated by armed force.

(6) A summary of the readiness of supporting capabilities, including infrastructure, prepositioned equipment and supplies, and mobility assets, and other supporting logistics capabilities.

(7) A summary of the readiness of the combat support and related agencies, any readiness problem or deficiency affecting any mission essential tasks of any such agency, and actions recommended to address any such problem or deficiency.

(8) A list of all Class A and Class B mishaps, and a summary count of all Class C mishaps, that occurred in operations related to combat support and training events involving aviation, ground, or naval platforms, weapons, space, or Government vehicles, as defined by Department of Defense Instruction 6055.07, or a successor instruction.

(9) Information on the extent to which units of the armed forces have removed serviceable parts, supplies, or equipment from one vehicle, vessel, or aircraft in order to render a different vehicle, vessel, or aircraft operational.

(10) Information regarding the extent to which any member of the armed forces is assigned or detailed outside the member’s unit or away from training in order to perform any function that had previously been performed by civilian employees of the Federal Government.

(11) A summary of the joint medical estimate under section 732(b)(1) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 (Public Law 115–232; 132 Stat. 1817) prepared by the Joint Staff Surgeon, with a mitigation plan to correct any readiness problem or deficiency and the timeline, cost, and any legislative action required to correct any such problem or deficiency.

(12) Such other information as determined necessary or appropriate by the Secretary of Defense.

(c) Consideration of Readiness Assessments.— The information required under subsection (b) to be included in the report for a quarter shall be based on readiness assessments that are provided during that quarter—

(1) to any council, committee, or other body of the Department of Defense—

(A) that has responsibility for readiness oversight; and

(B) whose membership includes at least one civilian officer in the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the level of Assistant Secretary of Defense or higher;

(2) by senior civilian and military officers of the military departments and the commanders of the unified and specified commands; and

(3) as part of any regularly established process of periodic readiness reviews for the Department of Defense as a whole.

(d) Semi-Annual Joint Force Readiness Review.—

(1) Not later than 30 days after the last day of the first and third quarter of each calendar year, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff shall submit to Congress a written report on the capability of the armed forces, the combat support and related agencies, operational contract support, and the geographic and functional combatant commands to execute their wartime missions based upon their posture and readiness as of the time the review is conducted.

(2) The Chairman shall produce the report required under this subsection using information derived from the quarterly reports required by subsection (a).

(3) Each report required by this subsection shall include an assessment by each commander of a geographic or functional combatant command of the readiness of the command to conduct operations in a multidomain battle that integrates ground, sea, air, space, cyber, and special operations forces.

(4) The Chairman shall submit to the Secretary of Defense a copy of each report under this subsection.

(e) Classification of Reports.— A report under this section shall be submitted in unclassified form. To the extent the Secretary of Defense determines necessary, the report may also be submitted in classified form.

(Added Pub. L. 104–106, div. A, title III, § 361(a)(1), Feb. 10, 1996, 110 Stat. 272, § 452; renumbered § 482, Pub. L. 104–201, div. A, title XI, § 1121(a), Sept. 23, 1996, 110 Stat. 2687; amended Pub. L. 105–85, div. A, title III, § 322(a)(1), Nov. 18, 1997, 111 Stat. 1673; Pub. L. 106–65, div. A, title III, § 361(d)(3), (e), Oct. 5, 1999, 113 Stat. 575; Pub. L. 110–181, div. A, title III, § 351(b), Jan. 28, 2008, 122 Stat. 70; Pub. L. 113–66, div. A, title III, § 331(a), Dec. 26, 2013, 127 Stat. 737; Pub. L. 113–291, div. A, title III, § 321, Dec. 19, 2014, 128 Stat. 3342; Pub. L. 114–328, div. A, title III, § 331, Dec. 23, 2016, 130 Stat. 2078; Pub. L. 115–91, div. A, title III, § 331(a), Dec. 12, 2017, 131 Stat. 1353; Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title III, § 332, Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1725; Pub. L. 116–92, div. A, title III, § 361(b), Dec. 20, 2019, 133 Stat. 1325; Pub. L. 117–81, div. A, title III, § 361, Dec. 27, 2021, 135 Stat. 1660; Pub. L. 117–263, div. A, title III, § 353, Dec. 23, 2022, 136 Stat. 2534; Pub. L. 118–31, div. A, title XVII, § 1722(a)(4), Dec. 22, 2023, 137 Stat. 668; Pub. L. 118–159, div. A, title III, § 341, Dec. 23, 2024, 138 Stat. 1857; Pub. L. 119–60, div. A, title III, § 331, Dec. 18, 2025, 139 Stat. 816.)

Editorial Notes

References in Text

Section 732(b)(1) of the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019, referred to subsec. (b)(11), is section 732(b)(1) of Pub. L. 115–232, div. A, title VII, Aug. 13, 2018, 132 Stat. 1817, which is not classified to the Code.

Amendments

2025—Subsec. (b)(8). Pub. L. 119–60 substituted “Class A and Class B mishaps, and a summary count of all Class C mishaps,” for “Class A, Class B, and Class C mishaps”.

2024—Subsec. (b)(5). Pub. L. 118–159 amended par. (5) generally. Prior to amendment, par. (5) read as follows: “A summary of each upgrade or downgrade of the combat readiness of a unit that was issued by the commander of the unit, together with the rationale of the commander for the issuance of such upgrade or downgrade.”

2023—Subsec. (a)(1), (2). Pub. L. 118–31 inserted “and the Space Force” after “active and reserve components”.

2022—Subsec. (b)(11), (12). Pub. L. 117–263 added par. (11) and redesignated former par. (11) as (12).

2021—Subsec. (b)(10), (11). Pub. L. 117–81 added par. (10) and redesignated former par. (10) as (11).

2019—Pub. L. 116–92, § 361(b)(1), substituted “Readiness reports” for “Quarterly reports: personnel and unit readiness” in section catchline.

Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 116–92, § 361(b)(2), in heading substituted “Reports and Briefings” for “Quarterly Reports Required” and in text designated existing provisions as par. (1), substituted “the second and fourth quarter of each calendar year” for “each calendar-year quarter”, substituted “The Secretary of Defense shall submit each such report in writing and shall also submit a copy of each such report to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.” for “The reports for the first and third quarters of a calendar year shall contain the information required by subsections (b), (d), (e), (f), and (g). The reports for the second and fourth quarters of a calendar year shall contain the information required by subsection (j).”, and added pars. (2) and (3).

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 116–92, § 361(b)(3), added subsec. (b) and struck out former subsec. (b) which related to specific descriptions of readiness problems in second and fourth quarter reports.

Subsecs. (d) to (j). Pub. L. 116–92, § 361(b)(4)–(6), added subsec. (d), redesignated subsec. (i) as (e), and struck out former subsecs. (d) to (h) and (j) which related to combatant command assessments, risk assessment of dependence on contractor support, military readiness of combat support and related agencies, major exercise assessments, information collected pursuant to section 117(c)(7) of this title, and mitigation plans to address readiness shortfalls and operational deficiencies, respectively.

2018—Subsec. (b)(1). Pub. L. 115–232, § 332(1), inserted “in the ground, sea, air, space, and cyber forces, and in such other such areas as determined by the Secretary of Defense,” after “deficiency”.

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 115–232, § 332(2)(A), struck out “Assigned Mission” after “Command” in heading.

Subsec. (d)(2), (3). Pub. L. 115–232, § 332(2)(B)–(D), added par. (2), redesignated former par. (2) as (3), and struck out former par. (3) which read as follows: “The assessment included in the report under paragraph (1) by the Commander of the United States Strategic Command shall include a separate assessment prepared by the Commander of United States Cyber Command relating to the readiness of United States Cyber Command and the readiness of the cyber force of each of the military departments.”

2017—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(1), substituted “The reports for the first and third quarters of a calendar year” for “Each report” and inserted at end “The reports for the second and fourth quarters of a calendar year shall contain the information required by subsection (j).”.

Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(2)(A), (B), in heading, struck out “and Remedial Actions” after “Problems” and in introductory provisions, substituted “A report for the second or fourth quarter of a calendar year” for “Each report”.

Subsec. (b)(2), (3). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(2)(C)–(E), redesignated par. (3) as (2) and struck out former par. (2) which read as follows: “planned remedial actions; and”.

Subsec. (d)(1). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(3), substituted “A report for the second or fourth quarter of a calendar year” for “Each report”.

Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(4), substituted “A report for the second or fourth quarter of a calendar year” for “Each report”.

Subsec. (f)(1). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(5), substituted “A report for the second or fourth quarter of a calendar year” for “Each report” in introductory provisions.

Subsec. (g)(1). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(6), substituted “A report for the second or fourth quarter of a calendar year” for “Each report” in introductory provisions.

Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 115–91, § 331(a)(7), added subsec. (j).

2016—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 114–328, § 331(a), (b)(1), substituted “Not later than 30 days after the end of each calendar-year quarter” for “Not later than 45 days after the end of each calendar-year quarter” and “subsections (b), (d), (e), (f), and (g)” for “subsections (b), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i)”.

Subsecs. (d) to (j). Pub. L. 114–328, § 331(b)(2), (3), (c), added subsec. (h), redesignated subsecs. (f) to (j) as (d) to (g) and (i), respectively, and struck out former subsecs. (d) and (e), which related to prepositioned stocks and readiness of National Guard to perform civil support missions, respectively.

2014—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(1), substituted “the military readiness of the active and reserve components.” for “military readiness.” and “subsections (b), (d), (e), (f), (g), (h), and (i).” for “subsections (b), (d), (f), (g), (h), (i), (j), and (k), and the reports for the second and fourth quarters of a calendar year shall also contain the information required by subsection (e).”

Subsec. (d). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(2), (3), added subsec. (d) and struck out former subsec. (d) which related to comprehensive readiness indicators for active components.

Subsec. (e). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(2), (4), redesignated subsec. (g) as (e) and struck out former subsec. (e) which related to logistics indicators.

Subsec. (e)(1). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(5), substituted “National Response Framework” for “National Response Plan”.

Subsec. (f). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(2), (4), redesignated subsec. (h) as (f) and struck out former subsec. (f) which related to unit readiness indicators.

Subsec. (f)(3). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(6), added par. (3).

Subsec. (g). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(4), redesignated subsec. (i) as (g). Former subsec. (g) redesignated (e).

Subsec. (h). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(7), inserted “and Related” after “Support” in heading and substituted “combat support and related agencies” for “combat support agencies” in introductory provisions of par. (1) and for “combat support agency” in introductory provisions of par. (2).

Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(4), redesignated subsec. (j) as (h). Former subsec. (h) redesignated (f).

Subsec. (i). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(8), added subsec. (i). Former subsec. (i) redesignated (g).

Subsec. (j). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(4), redesignated subsec. (l) as (j). Former subsec. (j) redesignated (h).

Subsec. (k). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(2), struck out subsec. (k) which related to major exercise assessments.

Subsec. (l). Pub. L. 113–291, § 321(4), redesignated subsec. (l) as (j).

2013—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 113–66, § 331(a)(1), substituted “Each report” for “The report for a quarter” and “(f), (g), (h), (i), (j), and (k), and the reports for the second and fourth quarters of a calendar year shall also contain the information required by subsection (e)” for “(e), and (f)”.