Gates to cut Pentagon costs

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has ordered a far-reaching review of administration costs at the Pentagon.
Gates said 40% of his department's budget went on bureaucracy, and that he wanted to save more than $10bn that would be spent on combat operations.
He compared US defence spending to an oil gusher that had to be turned off.
Gates described one example of waste, where requests for dog-handlers in Afghanistan had to be approved by no fewer than five Pentagon departments.
The current defence budget, not counting the cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, is $535bn. Gates wants $549bn for 2011.
In a speech at the Eisenhower Presidential Library in Abilene, Kansas, Gates said the Department of Defense had to "take a hard look at every aspect of how it is organised, staffed and operated - indeed, every aspect of how it does business".
He said he had recently come to the conclusion that in the wake of "difficult economic circumstances and parlous fiscal condition" of the US, the Pentagon would be required to make major savings.