Army official: Pentagon efficiency measures will cut muscle, not fat.

• Author: Erwin, Sandra I.
• Position: DEFENSEINSIDER

If history is any guide, the cost-cutting campaign launched by Defense Secretary Robert Gates may hit the wrong targets. There is enough wasteful spending in defense that the Pentagon could afford to make substantial cuts without jeopardizing essential programs, said Col. John "Buck" Surdu, military deputy at the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command Communications-Electronics Center, or CERDEC.

In all likelihood, however, when the budget ax comes down, it will hit valuable programs instead of questionable overhead costs such as administration and bureaucracy, Surdu said. "Having been through this a couple of times in my career, typically the cuts are made in the wrong places. ... We tend to take cuts at the working end of the stick instead of at the oversight and bureaucratic...