Esper cut $5 billion from Pentagon’s budget – and he wants to cut $41 billion more

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American Military News by Ryan Morgan 12/12/2019

Esper cut $5 billion from Pentagon’s budget – and he wants to cut $41 billion more

The Department of Defense has cut some $5 billion in costs from offices throughout the Pentagon in the four months since Mark Esper took on the role of Defense Secretary – one step toward his goal of cutting $46 billion.

Esper revealed the spending cuts during a keynote speech at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, Calif., Defense News reported. Esper said the 27 offices that comprise the “fourth estate” of the Defense Department – parts of the Defense Department that are not military branches – underwent a review of their spending and management in August, shortly after he became Defense Secretary.

“Within the department we are implementing aggressive reforms to free up time, money and manpower to put back into our highest priorities,” Esper said. “In just four months of work we have saved over $5 billion. By decreasing overhead, divesting legacy activities and reducing lower-priority programs, we are able to invest more in the war-fighting requirements of the services.”

Those “fourth estate” agencies include the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Missile Defense Agency, among others. According to a September 2018 report by the Government Accountability Office, the various “fourth estate” offices have an estimated annual budget of at least $106 billion.

More: https://americanmilitarynews.com/2019/12/esper-cut-5-billion-from-pentagons-budget-and-he-wants-to-cut-41-billion-more/