Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has a tough job ahead

Hagel vows to ‘take care’ of DoD work force
Army Times
By Marcus Weisgerber
Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2013

WASHINGTON — U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel pledged to take care of the Defense Department’s military and civilian work force even as billions of dollars in defense spending cuts loom.

In his first address to the Pentagon work force as defense secretary on Wednesday, Hagel said the DoD needs “to deal with this reality” that about $46 billion in cuts, known as sequestration, are set to kick in Friday.

“We need to figure this out,” Hagel said. “You are doing that. You have been doing that. We need to deal with this reality.”

If hit with these spending cuts and a yearlong continuing resolution, which is $11 billion less than the Pentagon’s planned 2013 budget, senior defense officials have said they would need to furlough most of DoD’s 800,000 civilian workers over the next six months. Military pay is exempt from the sequestration cuts.

“Our budget problems here, if nothing else what we’re dealing with, what you’re dealing with, what we’re all dealing with, is yes, dollars coming down; but it’s the uncertainty of the planning, it’s the uncertainty of the commitments, the uncertainty of what’s ahead,” Hagel said.
read more here
Just noticed this is post 18,000!