Thread: In new strategy, Panetta plans even smaller army

In new strategy, Panetta plans even smaller army

Defense secretary will unveil plan to cut billions from defense budget

The aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis transits the Straits of Hormuz in this Navy handout photo dated Nov. 12. Defense Secretary Panetta is set to unveil a new budget strategy that targets Army cuts, but would not touch the U.S. carrier fleet

By THOM SHANKER and ELISABETH BUMILLER

updated 1 hour 7 minutes ago 2012-01-05T05:40:59

WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta has concluded that the Army has to shrink even below current targets, dropping to 490,000 soldiers over the next decade, but that the United States should not cut any of its 11 aircraft carriers, according to Pentagon officials and military analysts briefed on the secretary’s budget proposals.

Mr. Panetta is to disclose the strategy guiding hundreds of billions of dollars in Pentagon budget cuts during an unusual Defense Department news conference on Thursday, when President Obama is to appear in the Pentagon briefing room and make remarks ahead of those by Mr. Panetta and Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mr. Obama has never before briefed reporters at the Pentagon, and administration officials said they did not know of any president who had.

Mr. Obama’s presence is an election-year effort to place the president squarely behind a new military strategy that will downsize the Pentagon, pivot from expensive ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and refocus on threats from China while not ignoring the threat of Iran.

Military experts familiar with Mr. Panetta’s thinking said that Mr. Obama had opposed reducing the American carrier fleet to 10 from 11 because of what he sees as the need to have enough force in the Pacific Ocean to act as a counterweight to China.

New fiscal reality

White House and Pentagon officials sought to portray Mr. Obama, who has been criticized by the Republican presidential candidates as weak on national security, as deeply involved in planning for the new strategy. “He has led this review process personally,” said the National Security Council spokesman, Tommy Vietor. The White House followed up Mr. Vietor’s remarks with a list of a half-dozen strategy meetings that Mr. Obama had led with top Pentagon and military officials since September.

The new military strategy is driven by at least $450 billion in Pentagon budget cuts over the next decade. Another $500 billion in cuts could be ordered if Congress follows through on plans for deeper reductions.

As part of the new reality, Mr. Panetta is expected to propose cuts in coming weeks to next-generation weapons, including delays in purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter jet, one of the most expensive weapons programs in history. Delaying the F-35 would leave its factories open, giving the manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, a chance to work out continuing problems in developing the plane while freeing up money that otherwise would be devoted to buying the warplane in the next year or two.

Senior aides to both Mr. Panetta and General Dempsey said few specific details on Pentagon budget cuts would be released at the Pentagon on Thursday. But a number of Pentagon officials, military officers and defense-budget specialists briefed on Mr. Panetta’s plans discussed specific programs on the chopping block on the condition of anonymity ahead of announcements expected this month.

The Army is already is slated to drop to a force of 520,000 from 570,000, but Mr. Panetta views even that reduction as too expensive and unnecessary and has endorsed an Army of 490,000 troops as sufficient, officials said.

The defense secretary has made clear that the reduction should be carried out carefully, and over several years, so that combat veterans are not flooding into a tough employment market and military families do not feel that the government is breaking trust after a decade of sacrifice, officials said.

No plans for new ground wars?

A smaller Army would be a clear sign that the Pentagon does not anticipate conducting another expensive, troop-intensive counterinsurgency campaign, like those waged in Afghanistan and Iraq. Nor would the military be able to carry out two sustained ground wars at one time, as was required under past national military strategies.

Instead, the military would be required to fight and win one war, spoil the military aspirations of another adversary in a different region of the world, and all the while be able to conduct humanitarian relief operations and other contingencies, like continuing counterterrorism missions and enforcing a no-fly zone.

The size of the Marine Corps is also expected to be reduced, although it would be expected to benefit from a renewed focus on the Asia-Pacific region, with Marines deployed aboard ships as well as at bases west of Hawaii.

Mr. Panetta is also examining personnel costs, with cuts to future retirement benefits and fees for health care offered to Defense Department retirees on the table.

Some areas of Pentagon spending will be protected. The defense secretary will not advocate cuts in financing for defense and offense in cyberspace, for Special Operations forces or for the broad area of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.

In general, the new “Defense Strategic Review” to be outlined Thursday will try to define American national security interests in what officials said would be more realistic, narrow terms — to allow the acquisition of required military capabilities with a reduced budget.

Copyright © 2012 The New York Times
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