According to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), the Central Command has expanded considerably during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. It should significantly reduce its staff in keeping with the new U.S. budgetary rules.

This chart shows the progression of permanent staff, broken down by civilians and military:

There are 2 730 regular positions to which must be added 1 642 employees on a temporary or contractor status:

To which must then be added the 3,733 civilian and military staff working within the individual CentCom units:

The result is a total of 8,105 persons employed by this coordination structure.

The Pentagon has vowed to reduce the overall workforce next year by 20%.