New Pentagon Strategy Calls for Leaner, But Still Dominant, Military - East Idaho News
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New Pentagon Strategy Calls for Leaner, But Still Dominant, Military

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GETTY N 111811 PentagonJPG?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1325840036068iStockphoto/Thinkstock(WASHINGTON) — The Pentagon’s new military strategy unveiled Thursday will result in a “smaller and leaner” military force, but one that President Obama insists will maintain America’s military superiority around the world.

Though no Defense budget spending information was presented on Thursday, the new strategy provides hints at potential personnel cuts that will be announced in a few weeks.

Entitled “Sustaining U.S. Global Leadership: Priorities for 21st Century Defense,” the new strategy lays out a vision for what the American military will look like by 2020.

The president made a rare appearance in the Pentagon briefing room to provide the first details of the military strategy review begun in early 2011 that was designed to guide the anticipated $450 billion in defense spending cuts slated to take place over the next decade.

“Our military will be leaner, but the world must know the United States is going to maintain our military superiority,”  Obama said.   

With the end of the U.S. involvement in Iraq and with significant troop reductions slated for Afghanistan by the end of 2014, the new strategy serves as a roadmap for where the military should prioritize its resources in the lean budget years to come.

“We will of necessity rebalance toward the Asia-Pacific region,” the eight page document states, reaffirming a point that Obama and other senior administration officials have emphasized recently.

[CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL EIGHT PAGE DOCUMENT]

The shift away from Iraq and Afghanistan also means there will be less of a need to maintain the increased number of Army soldiers and Marines required to conduct a counterinsurgency fight.  U.S. forces “will no longer be sized to conduct large-scale, prolonged stability operations” says the strategy.  That statement translates into smaller Army and Marine forces.

The Army and Marines were already planning to reduce their numbers beginning in 2015, but the strategy unveiled did not provide specific information whether they would be reduced beyond current planning.

However, a U.S. official confirms to ABC News that the Army will likely drop to 490,000 soldiers from its current end-strength of 570,000 — a deeper cut than a planned cut of 520,000.  That force strength will still be 10,000 more soldiers than were in the Army the year before 9/11.

The Marines are currently at 202,000 and had already planned to reduce their number to 186,800, a figure that will still be more than 10,000 higher than the number of Marines who were serving prior to 9/11.

The Navy will retain its fleet of 11 aircraft carriers and won’t be reduced to 10 as some national security analysts had speculated.  Maintaining that number of carriers should make it easier for the Navy to continue to project U.S. power in the Asia-Pacific region and the Middle East where for the past few years the Navy has maintained a two carrier presence for much of the year.

Another main highlight of the strategy released on Thursday is that it does away with the Cold-War era requirement that the military be able to fight two wars simultaneously.

Seeking to ease any concerns that dropping the requirement could leave the U.S. vulnerable if it has to face multiple threats, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said, ”We can confront more than one enemy at a time.”

Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio

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