Military Review English Edition January-February 2017 | Page 19

REDUCING HQDA

over time, a mission-to-workforce analysis, and benchmark comparisons against other relevant organizations.
The second phase, “set up the program,” tasked the USA
and VCSA to create a shared vision of the future for
HQDA and establish design principles. The USA and
VCSA would approve organizational redesigns in a
top-to-bottom methodology, moving through the leadership echelons that make up staff organizations. At the
end of the final “structure and design the organization”
phase, the USA and the VCSA would brief the recommended designs to the SA.
On 23 July 2014, the SA concluded the 2013 Army
FARG’s effort to identify the number of authorizations
required to achieve a 25 percent aggregate reduction
within Army headquarters at the two-star–and–above
level.6 Armed with the approved reduction numbers and
with the assistance of all ARSTAF and Army secretariat
agencies, the USA and VCSA established a core working
group to execute the ensuing HQDA review. Their first
task was to establish the program and design principles
utilized during the HQDA design review effort. Once the
Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr,
U.S. Army, retired,
led the Army’s Office of
Business Transformation
from July 2013 to July
2016. Prior assignments
include director of
program analysis and
evaluation, Headquarters,
Department of the Army
(HQDA); deputy commanding general (support), U.S. Forces–Iraq;
and director of force development, HQDA, G-8.
He earned a bachelor’s
degree from the College
of William and Mary and
a master’s degree from
Webster College. His
military education includes the U.S. Army War
College and the U.S. Army
Command and General
Staff College.

Brig. Gen. David Komar,
U.S. Army, has led
U.S. Army Training and
Doctrine Command’s
Capability Development
Directorate since June
2016. Prior assignments
include director, CJ7,
NATO Training Mission–
Afghanistan; and deputy
chief of staff and chief
of force design for the
Chief of Staff, Army’s Task
Force Modularity, HQDA.
He earned a bachelor’s
degree from Lafayette
College, and master’s degrees from the Naval War
College, the Air University,
and Webster University.
His military education
includes the Air Command
and Staff College and the
U.S. Naval War College.

MILITARY REVIEW  January-February 2017

principles were agreed upon, the ARSTAF and secretariat empowered the staff to develop their own organizational designs with help from the Boston Consulting
Group (BCG) as outlined in the last phase.

Scope and Initial Phases
During the nine months allocated for the HQDA
Comprehensive Review, the USA and VCSA tasked
the Office of Business Transformation (OBT) in coordination with the BCG to review the thirty-two main
ARSTAF agencies with twenty-five additional FOAs that
compose the HQDA tables of distribution and allowance
(TDAs).7 BCG had specialized knowledge on business
analysis techniques and design experience with other
large organizational headquarters. They mapped out the
formal and actual organizational structures, identified
core missions and functions, conducted in-depth echelon
analysis, and provided impartial expertise.
BCG began with a review of a subset of the total
HQDA agencies to understand the full scope of the
HQDA organization and their roles. In total, they
identified that the Army secretariat and ARSTAF
agencies with associated FOAs included approximately fourteen thousand personnel authorizations
with up to ten echelons, or internal organizational
layers, between the first-echelon senior decision

Lt. Col. Terrence “Terry”
Alvarez, U.S. Army, was
the executive officer to the
director of the Business
Operations Directorate,
Office of Business
Transformation. He was
previously assigned to
U.S. Army Alaska and the
1st Infantry Division, and
he has deployed to Iraq
and Afghanistan. He holds
a BA from Gettysburg
College, an MA from
Webster University, and an
MMAS from the U.S. Army
Command and General
Staff College.

Lt. Col. Raymond
Shetzline, U.S. Army,
retired, led one of the
small groups for the HQDA
Comprehensive Review as
an analyst for the Office of
Business Transformation,
Performance and Analysis
Division. His previous
Pentagon assignments include deputy chief of staff
G-8, Director’s Initiative
Group, and Program
Development Division. He
holds a bachelor’s degree
from the U.S. Military
Academy, and master’s
degrees from the Naval
Postgraduate School and
George Mason University.
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