The Pentagon wants military headquarters like U.S. Central Command and U.S. Special Operations Command, both based at MacDill Air Force Base, to cut personnel.
But what that means in Tampa is hard to say.
Centcom officials would only say they have reduced their headquarters budget by nearly 35 percent, to $485 million from $744 million two years ago.
Socom officials say that since that last round of cuts were ordered by then-Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel in 2013, it has cut about 26 percent of the 1,000 military and civilian positions on its core headquarters staff.
On Aug. 26, Assistant Defense Secretary Robert Work issued a memo calling for cuts to military headquarters, including Centcom and Socom. In his memo, Work ordered a 25 percent budget reduction in funding for all military headquarters, from the Office of Secretary of Defense, to the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to the combatant commands like Centcom and Socom. The cuts, he said, are “without regard” to congressional action and will cover a period from October 2016 to September 2020.
The cuts are in place of those previously instituted under Hagel.
Two years ago, Centcom had about 5,000 military and civilian personnel working at its headquarters, while Socom had about 1,000 in its core staff, which does not include the command’s acquisition unit, now known as the Special Operations Forces Acquisition, Technology, & Logistics office. Centcom officials declined to say how many personnel it currently has, how many it has already cut or how many, if any, it plans to cut.
Since Hagel directed the reduction of headquarters’ staffs, Socom has reduced its core staff by about 260 jobs, according to spokesman Ken McGraw. McGraw declined to elaborate on the latest call for cuts. He did not have the command’s headquarter’s budget figure as of Wednesday evening.
The question of headquarters staffing cuts came up again Wednesday morning, during an often testy hearing where Centcom commander Army Gen. Lloyd Austin III testified about the status of the fight against Islamic State.
There were more pressing issues than budgets. Austin told Senators that he will take “appropriate action” if a Department of Defense Office of Inspector General investigation finds that intelligence reports were altered by Centcom officials to present a rosier view of the fight against Islamic State.
Austin said that only “four or five” vetted and trained Syrians are still in the fight against Islamic State despite a half-billion-dollar training program. And that training of Iraqi security forces was slower than anticipated or wanted.
But Austin also addressed a question from Sen. Bill Nelson about the personnel cuts called for in the Senate’s proposed defense spending bill, which could have a direct impact on the Tampa area if it means a reduction in the local workforce.
Nelson asked how the Senate spending bill’s proposed 30 percent cut, including 7.5 percent in the fiscal year that begins next month, would affect the command.
“Take a look at what is going on in our region currently,” Austin replied, pointing to activities in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. “Clearly we have a very active region. In order to manage the things we need to manage, and work with partner nations in the region, we need appropriate staff to be able to do that. I fully understand and appreciate the pressure the department is under in terms of reduction of the top line budget, so we have to do what we can to tight our belts. I appreciate that. But it makes it increasingly difficult to get things done.”
What does this mean for staffing at Centcom and Socom?
It all depends on how the commands do the math, which they are not talking about.
Hagel called for headquarter staffs to be cut 20 percent between October 2014 and September 2019.
“These cuts are already underway and the new memo will give credit for most of the actions taken or scheduled to be taken under that 20 percent cut,” Navy Cmdr. Bill Urban said in an email to the Tribune last week.
As a result, Centcom and Socom have an additional year to take the additional 5 percent cut, but that cut can be phased in between October 2016 and September 2020, Urban said.
“Headquarter staffs will have to take this additional cut and will have to adjust their reduction plans, while having some flexibility on how rapidly they achieve the reductions,” he said. “Ultimately, by FY 2020 headquarter staff must be reduced by 25 percent from the original FY 2014 baseline.”
In 2013, after Hagel first announced his intention to cut headquarters budgets by 20 percent, Centcom’s headquarters budget was $744 million. Socom’s was not immediately available.
Navy Cmdr. Kyle Raines, a Centcom spokesman, said Wednesday that one reason for the command’s big budget cut is that the Office of Security Cooperation — Iraq, designed to train and equip the Iraqi military — is no longer funded by Centcom. He did not have details about how much that change contributed to the cut.
Centcom already planned to trim about 1,200 jobs by 2014, when the bulk of U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan. The cuts were planned largely through attrition.
PHOTO:”In order to manage the things we need to manage, and work with partner nations in the region, we need appropriate staff to be able to do that,” U.S. Central Command Commander Gen. Lloyd Austin III told lawmakers. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS