The U.S. fiscal crisis risks ensnaring the military with drastic cuts and strategic changes that the Army fears will leave it the main victim of the country's debt crunch, analysts said.
Having almost doubled since 2001, the Pentagon budget request to Congress will amount to $553 billion in 2012, on top of $118 billion allocated by the White House for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan eight months ago.
But a deficit reduction plan passed since those monies were allocated will strip around $450 billion from military coffers over the next decade.
General Ray Odierno, the Army's chief of staff, said in Washington on Monday that the savings can be achieved, but not without serious implications.
"Those are difficult, difficult cuts that have an impact on all the services, but particularly, in my mind, on the Army," he said.
The sticking point is that budget planners and strategists at the Pentagon cannot yet determine what programs or weapons will be cut or how many personnel will be declared redundant.
Further cost-savings of up to $600 billion could come as a result of a bipartisan commission in Congress tasked with finding additional ways to reduce federal spending by the end of November.
William Lynn, who was deputy defense secretary, warned when he left office last week that such large cuts would require "difficult choices" and a combination of drastic measures.
"We can do this by bringing overall force levels down as we draw down in Afghanistan. We can reduce our presence in some parts of the world while maintaining or expanding it in others," he said.
"And we can leverage technology to make a smaller force more effective and agile than the force we have today, but we will have to modify our strategy and prioritize our key missions."... more>>
