GET TO KNOW AS TO HOW PENTAGON LOOKS TO CUT 40,000 TO 50,000 CIVILIANS OVER FIVE YEARS

View Photo

Reuters/REUTERS - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel (L) listens as Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff General Martin Dempsey (R) speaks during a briefing on the Defense Department's FY2014 budget at the Pentagon in Washington April 10, 2013. The Pentagon unveiled a $526.6 billion budget on Wednesday that calls for base closures, program cancellations and smaller pay increases, but which is still $52 billion higher than spending caps set by law, putting the department on a path toward another year of financial uncertainty. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque (UNITED STATES - Tags: POLITICS BUSINESS MILITARY)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Pentagon is looking to reduce the size of its nearly 800,000 civilian workforce by 40,000 to 50,000 employees over the next five years, mainly through attrition as it closes bases and consolidates healthcare facilities, the department's comptroller said on Wednesday.

"I would hope that given the time to prepare, we could do this through attrition, but we aren't far enough along to really know for sure as to how we do it," said Undersecretary of Defense Robert Hale, the Pentagon's comptroller.

Hale said the employee reductions were tied to Pentagon plans to close excess bases and consolidate healthcare facilities, which were proposed on Wednesday and would have to be accepted by Congress before going into effect.