Obama Planning to Cut Tens of Thousands of Troops

(Newsroom America) -- The Obama administration is planning to offer what it says is a "more realistic" view of the military, a plan that includes cuts of tens of thousands of ground troops, Reuters reported, quoting unnamed senior officials familiar with the plan.

The report said the White House's Pentagon budget, which envisions as shrinking Pentagon budget in a time of fiscal restraint, will place more emphasis on air and sea power, pay less attention to Europe and focus U.S. security interests more on emerging threats in Asia.

The troop cut figures won't be specified Thursday, the officials said, but they are likely to amount to about 10-15 percent of Army and Marine Corps numbers over the next decade, which would amount to tens of thousands of troops, Reuters reported.

The most important shift is a realization by the Pentagon that despite spending more on its military than many other nations combined, the U.S. cannot afford to maintain enough troops to fight and win two simultaneous wars, a strategy that has been in place for more than two decades.

The move away from a "win-win" plan to a "win-spoil" strategy means the Pentagon would be able to win one conflict while blocking or stalling another at the same time, said the report.

The strategy shift is a recognition by the White House that would need to gin up public support for additional engagement and rely more heavily on Reserve and National Guard troops to fill in gaps in the active duty force.

"As Libya showed, you don't necessarily have to have boots on the ground all the time," one official familiar with the new strategy told Reuters.

The shift to curb U.S. troop levels will likely begin to occur as forces are withdraw from Afghanistan, officials said.

"When some army brigades start coming out of Afghanistan, they will basically disappear," one official told Reuters.

On the Web: U.S. Department of Defense

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