Washington ( CNN ) -- Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel , the former enlisted man who earned his sergeant stripes as a grunt in the jungles of Vietnam , is cutting the budgets of the Pentagon 's top brass by 20 % . And he 's sharing the pain , cutting his own office budget by a like amount . `` Early estimates indicate that the total savings could be in the range of $ 1.5- $ 2 billion , '' Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement released Tuesday night . Much of the money savings will come from a cut in the number of people working for the Department of Defense leaders , but there 's no word yet on how many people might lose their positions . `` Personnel reductions associated with these savings will be determined during the development of detailed execution plans , '' Little said . The plan goes into effect in October 2014 and will last until 2019 . Budget cutting has been a main priority at the Defense Department for several years , even before Hagel took over . The Pentagon said this is not one of the budget issues that can be reversed when sequestration goes away . `` These cuts will be implemented even if Congress lifts sequester-level budget caps , '' Little said .
Hagel wants to tighten spending at Pentagon . The White House has said it will not negotiate with Congress on the budget until next year.