Considering a Cadre Augmented Army - RAND Corporation

-204- An Operational Analysis of Cadre
alternatives: (1) activation requiring legislative and executive approval and (2) activation
without requiring legislative approval. We also consider how we might avoid delays in the
activation process through peacetime policy statements.
5.1.1—Activation Requiring Executive and Legislative Approval
In order to activate cadre units, recruiting will need to be increased. This requires
that the President requests, and the U.S. Congress provides, additional funding. 108 Therefore,
without any pre-war cadre legislation, actions must be taken by the President and Congress
to activate cadre units. 109 This could delay the activation of cadre units. The increases in
recruiting for some of the cadre augmented forces would be significant and would likely be
debated extensively by those in the executive branch and by members of Congress. If both
branches cannot agree to take action, cadre units that rely on end-strength increases could
not be activated. 110 This is a risk of relying upon a cadre augmented force.
5.1.2—Activation without Requiring Legislative Approval
One way to remove one of the barriers to cadre activation is to remove the need for
legislative approval of end-strength increases for cadre units. To do this, Congress could
pass a law during peacetime that allows for temporary increases in army end-strength
whenever the President requests them for cadre units. However, it is doubtful that Congress
would approve of passing such a measure because it reduces its power. Such a measure
would force Congress to give up its prerogative to declare war and its ability to control the
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108 As dictated in the U.S. Constitution: “The Congress shall have the power to … raise and support Armies.”
(Article 1, Section 8)
109 Unless funding is requested after the fact as has been the case with the supplemental funding bills for the
Global War on Terror which have been used to pay for activated reservists.
110 This would not be the case if cadre units were filled out entirely with personnel from the IRR. However, as
shown in the following section, the IRR alone cannot fill out all cadre forces for a sustained period of time.