Defense budget casualties light on civilian side

[didymus]

Washington Times:

Defense budget casualties light on civilian side

The Pentagon’s civilian workforce, which expanded dramatically during President Obama’s first three years, is not facing any significant reductions even as the Defense Department is slashing ground troops by more than 10 percent, retiring ships and combat planes, and putting off the purchases of some new weapons.President Bush’s last budget, for fiscal 2009, pegged Defense Department civilians at 739,000, according to the department’s latest “Green Book” budget document on total spending.

This year, the number of civilians sits at 801,000, an increase of 62,000 personnel, or 8 percent; it is expected to decline by 1 percent next year.
Some defense analysts say this was not supposed to happen.
In the summer of 2010, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced a series of cost-saving initiatives that included keeping civilian employees to that year’s number of 778,000. The services started issuing press releases on the number of civilian jobs they had erased.

Two years later, civilian employment has risen by 23,000 personnel.
At about the same time as the Gates downsizing push, the Defense Business Board, a Pentagon advisory panel to the defense secretary, issued a report calling for a 15 percent decrease in civilian employees.

“That has not happened,” said Arnold Punaro, who led the task force.
Mr. Punaro, a retired Marine Corps Reserve major general who headed the Senate Armed Services Committee’s Democratic staff, said the defense budget is suffering through rapid increases in personnel overhead costs at the expense of troops.
“While the fighting force is coming down, the overhead continues to grow,” he said. “It was an adverse ratio to start with, and it’s getting worse. You want to put your money in the tip of the spear, not in the rear with the gear.”

Hmmm. . .
DoD employees are unionised civil service & thus overwhelmingly Democratic.
Troops, otoh, are more conservative (you won’t find many liberals fighting for their country) – they were big donors to Ron Paul’s campaign. Who needs them?

 

[BobCatholic]

No surprise there.

Democrats always make sure cronies don’t get hurt.

Taxpayers, on the other hand, bear the brunt of everything they do. They should just admit it already and put “Hurting taxpayers” as a plank in their political stand.