Will pay, benefits bear brunt of DoD cuts?

Tom Shoop, the editor-in-chief of Government Executive magazine, posited on his blog that the Defense Department\'s soon-to-be-released budget cuts will almost ...

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has a plan to cut the defense budget, and he plans to release it this week.

Tom Shoop, the editor-in-chief of Government Executive magazine, posited on his blog that the Defense Department’s plan will almost certainly involve changes to its pay and benefits structure.

“In fact, pay and benefits may be the first items to go,” Shoop wrote on his GovExec blog.

He added:

That’s because in today’s budget environment, nothing is off the table. But it’s also because number-crunchers see big savings in the compensation area.

As the New York Times (which first reported on the impending release of DoD’s savings plans) notes, the Pentagon spends nearly a third of its base budget on personnel costs.

Shoop joined In Depth with Francis Rose to discuss where DoD is looking to cut and what it means for the department.

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