Hagel orders cuts for Pentagon headquarters: Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered a 20 percent cut in funding for the Pentagon's top civilian and military headquarters by 2019, saying everyone has to "do their part."
Hagel announced the order Tuesday during a visit to a naval air base in Jacksonville, Florida, portraying the move as a signal that no element of the military's bureaucracy would be immune from budget pressures.
Previous Pentagon leaders also have tried -- with little success -- to scale back the top-heavy bureaucracy.
These past efforts have taken aim at the large number of well-paid civilian officials and senior officers who work for the Joint Staff and the Office of the Secretary of Defense, a mini-administration that supports the Pentagon chief.
Hagel's spokesman, George Little, said the newly proposed reduction would result in savings of roughly $1.5 billion to $2 billion over five years, which by itself would not solve the Defense Department's budget woes.
