November 27, 2007 - Two weeks ago, the Pentagon announced the "good news" that the Army had met its recruiting goal for October, the first month in a five-year plan to add 65,000 new soldiers to the ranks by 2012.

But Pentagon statistics show the Army met that goal by accepting a higher percentage of enlistees with criminal records, drug or alcohol problems, or health conditions that would have ordinarily disqualified them from service.

In each fiscal year since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, statisics show, the Army has accepted a growing percentage of recruits who do not meet its own minimum fitness standards. The October statistics show that at least 1 of every 5 recruits required a waiver to join the service, leading military analysts to conclude that the Army is lowering standards more than it has in decades.

"The across-the-board lowering of the standards is buying problems in the future," said John D. Hutson, a retired rear admiral, dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center, and a former judge advocate general of the Navy. "You are going to have more people getting in trouble, more people washing out" of the service before finishing their tour of duty.

The Army Recruiting Command, based in Fort Knox, Ky., insists that it carefully reviews each applicant. "We look at the recent history, such as employment, schooling, references, and signs of remorse and changed behavior since the incident occurred" on how recruits with criminal records are regarded, the command said in a statement to the Globe.

But Senator Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat and influential chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he is concerned that the the Army is sacrificing quality for quantity.

"While quantity is of course important, quality must remain the highest priority," Levin said at a Nov. 15 congressional hearing. "The Army must continue to uphold high standards - moral, intellectual, and physical - for new recruits, to ensure that these young men and women are capable of handling the great demands that they will face . . . We must find a way to both increase the size of the Army and to maintain its standards."

Anxious to reduce the strain the Iraq war has placed on ground forces, Congress earlier this year approved the Pentagon's proposal to bring the active-duty Army to at least 547,000 troops, an increase of 65,000 and the biggest buildup of conventional forces since the end of the Cold War. The plan is predicted to cost as much as $70 billion.

Army leaders say they are on pace to complete the expansion two years early by beefing up recruiting efforts and offering mid-level officers and enlisted soldiers bonuses of up to $35,000 if they reenlist.

But the recruiting data for October show that accepting applicants who would previously have been disqualified is likely to be a key way of reaching the numbers, according to Hutson and a military recruiting analyst. Of the 6,434 enlistees who signed up last month, 792, or 12.3 percent, required waivers for past criminal activity that would have disqualified them, including misdemeanor and felony convictions, according to Army data.

By comparison, 11.2 percent of Army recruits were granted criminal waivers in all of fiscal year 2007, which ended Sept. 30. The 2007 figure was the largest percentage of recruits admitted on waivers since the Iraq war began.

Because the Army has used different methods to track waivers, no one can say for sure if the current percentages are records. But recruiting officials believe that the percentage of recruits admitted on waivers is the highest the Army has seen in recent decades.

The data, which include active-duty soldiers as well as Army reservists, show that the percentage of waivers for recruits with criminal records more than doubled in the past few years, from 4.6 percent in 2003 to 11.2 percent in 2007.

Those "moral character waivers" must be approved by an officer the rank of lieutenant colonel or higher. The waivers are required when an Army applicant has been convicted of committing four or more "minor offenses" such as littering or disorderly conduct, or two to four misdemeanors such as larcency, trespassing, or vandalism.

Recruits who have committed a felony such as arson, burglary, or aggravated assault must also receive a moral waiver to join. Applicants with multiple felonies - or with a single conviction for a more serious crime such as homicide, rape, or drug trafficking - are automatically disqualified.

The share of new recruits granted waivers for medical reasons, such as failing Army physical fitness standards or for testing positive for marijuana or cocaine use, has also soared in the past five years.

The percentage of medical waivers more than doubled, from 4.1 percent in 2003 to 8.6 percent last month. Drug or alcohol abuse waivers increased by half, from 1 percent in 2003 to 1.5 percent last month.

Medical waivers can be granted for a host of physical deficiencies, including being overweight - as long as the condition is not progressive, will not be aggravated by military service, will not impede a recruit's ability to train, and will not jeopardize comrades' safety.

Drug and alcohol waivers are granted by the head of the recruiting command to applicants who test positive for marijuana no more than twice and cocaine no more than once in tests given during the recruiting process.

Although the Army has pledged to accept only quality recruits, military analysts predict the percentage of recruits admitted on waivers will keep rising with the demand for more soldiers.

Recruiters "have a tough year ahead of them," said Beth Asch, an economist at the government-funded Rand Corporation who specializes in military recruiting issues.

Asch believes that despite the Army's assurances, an independent body should "spot-check" the waiver approval process to make sure each recruit has been rehabilitated or is otherwise of high caliber. "I think it needs to be monitored carefully," she said.

But Hutson worries that lower standards "may be the only way we can grow the force."

Bryan Bender can be reached at bender@globe.com.