Congress will target the growth of the Defense Department’s civilian and contractor staff in the fiscal 2016 defense bill, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Sen. John McCain said Tuesday.
The challenge of cutting the overhead — the hundreds of thousands of staff assigned to the headquarters and support functions at the Pentagon and at command headquarters around the globe — has come up repeatedly as Congress looks for ways to make the Pentagon more efficient with the more than $600 billion in annual spending it receives.
Both Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and McCain, R-Ariz., have repeatedly targeted department inefficiency, asking the various leaders who have testified before their committee what Congress can do to help it trim the numbers of civilians and contractors it has.
While the military has cut about 100,000 troops from its end strength since 2009, the number of civilians has increased by at least 25,000, despite requirements by former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel for the services to shed 20 percent of their civilian overhead.
Instead of cutting those positions, the civilians were shifted to a defense-wide account.
To make major cuts to personnel, the Defense Department would need reduction-in-force authority to be able to provide separation pay and other incentives.
On Tuesday, McCain said this year’s bill will again direct the Pentagon to reduce its overhead.
“We’re still working on it, but I can assure you we will be addressing the issue,” McCain said.
Manchin was not immediately available for comment.
Any companion legislation in the House is likely to be introduced later this week, as it marks up its fiscal 2016 defense authorization bill.
