A Plan to Save $25 Billion at the Pentagon
House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry (R-TX) released a plan last week to cut $25 billion in spending at the Pentagon, largely through reductions in what the lawmaker says are duplications and inefficiencies within the sprawling department.
The plan focuses on the so-called fourth estate – the 28 agencies and field activities within the Pentagon that provide administrative support for the armed services while employing about 800,000 civilians (600,000 of whom are contractors) at a cost of more than $100 billion a year.
Thornberry wants to eliminate seven of the 28 – the Defense Technology Security Administration, the Defense Information Systems Agency, the Defense Technical Information Center, the Office of Economic Adjustment, the Test Resources Management Center, the Defense Human Resources Activity, and the Washington Headquarters Services – and if $25 billion in savings are not seen by 2021, most of the remaining agencies would receive automatic budgets cuts of 25 percent.
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