Probing the Pentagon’s Fuzzy Math
More than half the savings identified are doubtful
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Even as the Pentagon braces for leaner budgets to come, the $178 billion in savings it had already proposed are largely illusory, according to a Bloomberg Government study.
The Defense Dept. earlier this year touted savings that range from a U.S. Air Force plan to sock away $5 million by creating a Craigslist-like website for swapping spare parts to a Navy program to pare $4.7 billion from personnel costs by shifting 6,000 sailors onto ships from jobs ashore. About $106 billion, or 60 percent, of the $178 billion is unlikely to materialize, says BGOV defense analyst Kevin Brancato. His study reveals the difficulty the Administration and Congress will have in reining in defense spending long-term.