It is hardly even news anymore when another report comes out detailing waste and inefficiency at the Pentagon. But when it was revealed that military leaders who had pressed for a study had a change of heart when they heard just how much was being wasted, and then tried to suppress the report, it raised eyebrows.
The study, requested by Deputy Defense Secretary Robert O. Work and conducted by the Defense Business Board, an advisory group comprised of corporate executives, and consultants from McKinsey and Co., estimated that the military could save $125 billion over five years, primarily by reducing its civilian workforce through attrition and early retirements, reducing spending on defense contractors and improving its use of information technology.
Administrative bloat was a major theme of the study. Nearly a quarter of the Pentagon’s $580 billion budget goes to overhead and administrative services, and the number of civilian workers, uniformed personnel and contractors now exceeds 1 million — nearly as many support staff as the 1.3 million troops on active duty. Moreover, an average administrative job in the Pentagon costs more than $200,000 a year in salary and benefits.
Pentagon leaders were initially excited by the prospect of finding savings and redirecting it for troops and weapons. But the sheer size of the waste was a bit too revealing. After all, “The money could cover the operational costs for 50 Army brigades, or 3,000 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for the Air Force, or 10 aircraft-carrier strike groups for the Navy,” the Washington Post noted in an investigative report.
“If the impression that’s created is that we’ve got a bunch of money lying around and we’re being lazy and we’re not doing anything to save money, then it’s harder to justify getting budgets that we need,” Frank Kendell III, the Pentagon’s chief weapons-buyer, told Work, according to the Post. No kidding. And, apparently, it is much more than just an impression.
So, in typical bureaucratic fashion, the internal report, issued in January 2015, was buried. In a September speech, then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said he wanted to pay for more troops, fighter jets and Navy ships by “eliminating government waste and budgeting gimmicks.” Now he knows where to start looking for it.