Defense Secretary Details Contractor Cutbacks The Defense Department will cut several thousand support contractors in its efficiency initiative. According to a March 14 memo from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the Missile Defense Agency will drop 1,000 contractors; the Tricare health program will eliminate 364; the Defense Finance and Accounting Service will drop 227; the office of the undersecretary for policy will cut 130; and other defense organizations will also pare back contract support. Most of the contractors will be eliminated by Sept. 30. Gates said the savings on support services will total more than $6 billion over the next several years. He also ordered reductions in senior civilian executive positions, lopped off 102 generals’ and admirals’ billets, and directed a reorganization of many DOD offices. The secretary said the initiative is “designed to reduce duplication, overhead, and excess, and instill a culture of savings and cost accountability across the Department of Defense.” The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will cut IT and administrative contractor support by 7.5% and reduce its grant spending by 5%. The Defense Contract Management Agency will reduce contract support by 5%. DOD’s Washington Headquarters Service will consolidate its IT directorates, eliminating 50 contractor positions. As announced earlier, the Joint Forces Command and the Business Transformation Agency will be abolished. The cutbacks implement Gates’s August 2010 directive to reduce spending on overhead so the money could be redirected to the warfighter.