Just a week and a half before deep sequestration defense cuts are set to go into effect without a fiscal cliff deal, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is explaining potential ramifications to Pentagon employees.
Panetta assures workers in today’s memo that President Obama said over the summer he would “exercise his legal authority to exempt military personnel funding from sequestration.”
“Our civilian employees should keep in mind that the Administration remains focused on working with Congress to reach agreement on a balanced deficit reduction plan that avoids such cuts,” he wrote. “Sequestration was never intended to be implemented, and there is no reason why both sides should not be able to come together and prevent this scenario.”
Nevertheless, though, Panetta said it’s necessary to “clarify the potential implications.”
“I do not expect our day-to-day operations to change dramatically on or immediately after January 2, 2013, should sequestration occur,” he said, citing a budgetary reduction through the remainder of the fiscal year ending in September. “This means that we will not be executing any immediate civilian personnel actions, such as furloughs, on that date. Should we have to operate under reduced funding levels for an extended period of time, we may have to consider furloughs or other actions in the future.”
Panetta said other cost-cutting measures would also be considered within the department.
“If such action proves to be necessary, we would provide affected employees the requisite advance notice before a furlough or other personnel action would occur,” he continued. “We would also immediately cancel any scheduled personnel actions should a deficit reduction agreement be reached that restores our agency funding.”
Panetta wrapped up by thanking Pentagon employees “during this holiday season” for their hard work and dedication.
This guidance doesn’t address the devastating job losses that would be seen at defense contractors, who were encouraged by the administration to not issue 60-day WARN Act notices before the election.
– yours first, you lying Little Bread.
Sequestration only cuts a couple hundred billion from the yearly budget…from increases in spending. Not from current spending.
We spend more about that much on a month to month basis, the way it is…and 40% – 50% of *that* is money we don’t have, to begin with.
If either side were serious, every American in the nation would be screaming bloody murder, because their favorite government progams were getting the ol’ heave-ho.
The current argument? Not serious. At. All.
If about 60% of the pentagons “staff” was to be cleaned out, especially the boatloads of intellectual contractors and other corrupted leeches, then maybe there would be a chance for reorganization and some appropriate functionality and major cost savings.
Bring it and the services down in size elminating ALL non warfare strategists, and training policy personnel. Return all active duty pay and personnel services back to the individual services. Return reserve services back to regional reserve centers staffed by fulltime reserve personnel.
Clean out the Army also, starting with all those ‘civilian commanders’ and all those contract unionized employees in the upper commands.
Bring our military back to a constitutional war machine and not an employment agency. Train up a new corps of officers, who are mean-to-the-bone forensic accountant specialists to manage and audit ALL military contractors and vendors, with about 50% co-assigned as law enforcement officers to the FBI. Also, when a member of congress attaches to a DOD bill any funding not requested by the DOD, that member ‘shall’ face charege of conspiracty to defraud and be defrocked.
Clean up the pentagon and the services!