Study of declining US Marine officer test results raises fears over quality of leadership

US Marine Corps officers sitting a standard test are getting lower results than they did in 1980. What’s behind the drop, and what does it mean for the US military as a whole?

WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 09: Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps General Joseph Dunford Jr. testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in the Hart Senate Office Building on Capitol Hill July 9, 2015 in Washington, DC. During testimony, Dunford identified Russia as the biggest threat facing the United States and that if budget sequestration was to continue, the U.S. military will face 'catastrophic consequences.' Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

WHAT’S making US military officers stupid? It’s a question that has researchers scratching their heads and the military wondering where it’s going to get its next generation of generals from.

The United States Marine Corps has been carefully recording the results of a General Classification Test since World War II. It took a standardised series of tests and graded performance on a mean score of 100. The higher above 100 a candidates score was, the higher their perceived intelligence.

The cut-off level for officer school was 120 points.

US think tank The Brookings Institute obtained records of the Marine test results through freedom of information requests. It then analysed the data.

MUS Marines and Australian soldiers during an amphibious landing exercise during Operation Talisman Sabre in the Northern Territory.

Leadership qualities

On one hand the Brookings findings are very positive: Sixty per cent of its rank-and-file soldiers meet the “high quality” requirements of a high school diploma and intelligence testing. In 1977 it was just 27 per cent.

But for officers, it’s another matter: They have to earn a four-year college degree and pass Officer Candidate School. In 1980, 85 per cent of the Marine candidates exceeded the cut-off score. In 2014, this had fallen to just 59 per cent.

Over the past three decades, the average test result fell 6.6 per cent (from a mark of 130.9 points down to 122.1). But the number of top performers is where the greatest impact was felt: only 0.7 per cent scored above 150 in 2014. In 1980, 4.9 per cent of candidates topped that level.

“Though commissioned officers comprise only about 16 per cent of the force, they clearly have a major impact on the success of the military as a whole given their leadership role for their troops and responsibility for strategy and tactics,” the Brookings report reads.

Honour guard ... While the quality of US Marine general recruits has soared since 1980, that of its officers appears to have been falling behind.

What’s making officers stupid?

Despite controversial claims within the armed forces, the researchers found the falling scores had nothing to do with surging numbers of female, Hispanic and African American recruits.

“We find, in fact, a positive association between African American officers and mean GCT score, perhaps because recruitment efforts by the Marine Corps have attracted minority officers who are more qualified than the typical college graduate,” the report says.

The study’s authors, Michael Klein and former Marine officer Matthew Cancian, argue the key appears to be that more people than ever before are earning college degrees.

A four-year degree is needed before someone can even apply to become a soldier.

The increase in college participation in recent decades means more people who would previously not have qualified to apply are now doing so, they say.

The report urges the need for the military to acknowledge the decline in officer quality and act on reversing the trend: “The junior officers of today will become the generals of tomorrow; if the military does not receive the intelligent young leaders today that it used to receive in the past, it will not have high quality generals.”