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OTTAWA — Civilian staff numbers at National Defence grew by almost 30% over six years, despite budget cuts and warnings the military has too much “tail and not enough teeth.”

The figures are in a spreadsheet report of the entire federal civil service, compiled by the Parliamentary Budget Office and posted last week.

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The tables show that since the Harper government was elected, the number of non-uniformed employees at Defence rose to 27,177 at the end of the 2011-12 fiscal year from 20,978 in 2005-06.

That’s far above the 14% increase in the entire civil service during the Conservative mandate.

The swelling administrative ranks at Defence has caught the attention of the prime minister.

Stephen Harper warned Defence Minister Peter MacKay last year, in a letter obtained by The Canadian Press, to take a second run at budget cuts to reduce overhead.

Retired lieutenant-general Andrew Leslie, in his landmark report on overhauling the military in 2011, sounded the same warning. He said the bureaucracy, built up during the Afghan war, should be the principal target of the reductions.