Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed selected Navy high-risk training courses, focusing on the Navy's efforts to improve training safety.
GAO found that: (1) although the Chief of Naval Education and Training (CNET) took a number of steps to improve internal controls after the death of an airman recruit during a high-risk training course, internal control weaknesses continued to exist in such courses; (2) significant weaknesses existed involving student and instructor screening, processing controls for students with medical problems, trainer evaluations, and the course critique system available to students; (3) most problems resulted from inadequate implementation of CNET policies, rather than inadequacies in such policies; (4) the Navy lacked adequate oversight of high-risk training to ensure student and instructor safety; (5) five of the eight training activities visited lacked adequate mishap reporting systems, and authorities responsible for analyzing such mishaps failed to do so; (6) while the Navy took steps to improve safety reviews and policies, it still conducted unsafe and unapproved training exercises; (7) the Navy established the Training Performance Evaluation Board to systematically monitor and evaluate all high-risk training; (8) the Navy shortened its curriculum at two surface rescue swimmer schools despite strong opposition and concerns that a shortened course would compromise safety and increase the risk of training injuries; and (9) the shortened course resulted in increased attrition due to more demanding schedules and reduced students' ability and proficiency in rescue techniques.
