Lawmakers and Pentagon officials have agreed to cut pensions for three- and four-star generals and admirals that ballooned during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An agreement on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) will roll back pension changes made in 2007 that made it possible for senior officers to make much more in retirement than they did during active duty. The pension hike was made under the rationale that it would boost retention.
“The House and Senate made the right move to revoke this special pension bonus for senior flag officers,” Ethan Rosenkranz, national security policy analyst at the Project on Government Oversight, a non-partisan government watchdog group, told Stars and Stripes on Thursday.
Officers affected by the new rules, which were agreed upon by the House and Senate Armed Services Committees, will be capped at top active-duty pay of $181,501 at the end of the month, the newspaper reported. Pensions for currently serving officers will be grandfathered.
“Our military families are being asked to share the pain of deficit reduction through a constrained pay increase, a reduction in housing benefits, and an increase in pharmaceutical co-pays,” Mr. Rosenkranz told Stars and Stripes. “It’s only fair that the NDAA makes senior flag officers forgo a special bonus.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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