Pentagon push to phase out top brass causing much consternation
By Craig Whitlock
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 13, 2010
Of all the spending cuts and budget battles the Pentagon is confronting, none is causing more angst than Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates's vow to start getting rid of generals and admirals.
By almost any measure, the military is more top-heavy an institution than it has been for decades. Today, there are 40 four-star generals and admirals -- one more than in 1971, during the Vietnam War, even though the number of active-duty troops has shrunk by almost half.
The number of active-duty generals and admirals of all rank, meanwhile, has increased by about 13 percent since 1996.
It is, as Gates puts it, "brass creep."
(More here.)
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, August 13, 2010
Of all the spending cuts and budget battles the Pentagon is confronting, none is causing more angst than Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates's vow to start getting rid of generals and admirals.
By almost any measure, the military is more top-heavy an institution than it has been for decades. Today, there are 40 four-star generals and admirals -- one more than in 1971, during the Vietnam War, even though the number of active-duty troops has shrunk by almost half.
The number of active-duty generals and admirals of all rank, meanwhile, has increased by about 13 percent since 1996.
It is, as Gates puts it, "brass creep."
(More here.)
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