The chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee has expressed his disappointment in how the Air Force is handling its announced 20 percent reduction in headquarters personnel, citing testimony that none of the civilians who were part of that reduction were actually removed from the agency.
A DoD order to reduce spending on headquarters-level operations did not specifically require a reduction of that percentage in personnel, but did urge components to do so, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said in a letter to the Air Force. Also, a directive was issued that subordinate headquarters should not grow as a result of reductions in higher headquarters.
He said that while the service had touted the speed at which it had achieved a 20 percent headquarters reduction, it did not eliminate lower priority activities but merely re-designated a headquarters component as subordinate to a lower-level command, while starting a support center at a lower level.
“The 20-percent headquarters reductions were meant to make Defense Department operations more efficient while saving money for American taxpayers,” he wrote. “But the conduct of the Air Force in response to this guidance seems to have produced no actual staff reductions and yielded no actual savings . . . In reality, the Air Force pursued a shell game that simply moved money to fund the same positions elsewhere in the service.”
He urged the Air Force to reconsider its actions and said his committee will continue to monitor the issue.
