Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work has said the Pentagon plans to cut administrative and overhead expenses at the Office of the Secretary of Defense and 16 sub-agencies in light of sequestration, Federal Times reported Tuesday.
Andrew Tilghman reports that the move is the result of efficiency reviews with the Defense Business Board and Business Executives for National Security as the Pentagon continues to face sequestration and its impact on military programs.
“The members of the services are asking, ‘Can I continue to serve? Will I still have a job in the armed services?'” Work said.
Training, compensation and promotion of servicemen are among those affected by the budget caps, Tilghman writes, but the Defense Department has since resumed training and maintenance programs due to the “two-year fix” Congress implemented last year.
However, Work noted that DoDÂ should draw an alternative spending plan in case sequestration continues.
He said the department could also conduct further reviews of U.S. force levels and readiness in Europe due to recent tensions involving Russia.
He has indicated that the Pentagon has the funds to prepare deployments but is “taking significant risk” in the surge forces as they have varying wartime capability levels.
