In a move which belies the customarily-heard canard that it’s slow to make decisions, the U.S. Army is moving out decisively to minimize overhead spending and protect up to it should of the fighting force.
In an August 14 memorandum to each major command and agency, the Secretary of the military, the Honorable John McHugh, and the executive of Staff, General Raymond Odierno, informed their service that they were directing the 2013 Focus Area Review Group to spot areas for major reductions in personnel and expenditures. In what can only be described as a shot around the bow to the institutional Army, the memo states:
“Let there be no mistake, aggregate reductions WILL OCCUR. The cash is gone; our mission now’s to ascertain how best to allocate these cuts while maintaining readiness. We think Army leaders, military and civilian, to grab this chance to re-shape our Army. This effort will take PRIORITY OVER ALL other Headquarters, Department of the military activities.” (emphasis in original)
The tasking provided to the Review Group is another indication of the seriousness with which this effort is viewed and the determination of the Secretary and Chief to not let entrenched interests sidetrack the trouble. The Review Group has just a month within which to report back with comprehensive recommendations. The memo directs that except in extraordinary circumstances, recommendations to conduct further studies or assessments aren’t acceptable. Also, to fulfill the tight deadline, to the level practicable, the Review Group will have faith in existing data, studies and reviews. In recognition of past efforts at cost reduction that achieved major savings by double counting cuts, there’ll be an integration cell to aggregate the entire reductions.
One goal explicitly called out is to scale back Army Headquarters (both institutional and operational, on the 2-star and above levels) within the aggregate by 25 percent. The impacted organizations got two weeks – that’s right, just two weeks — wherein to provide their plans to chop headquarters by the objective amount when it comes to both funding and manning.
This move has to rank up there with a number of the boldest institutional reform efforts by great Army leaders of the past — individuals inclusive of Marshall, Taylor, Abrams, Marsh, Vuono and Sullivan. Secretary McHugh and General Odierno deserve recognition and support for this bold effort.
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