Pentagon Prepares for Deep Budget Cuts

December 18, 2012

The part of the U.S. government set to be hurt the most if U.S. lawmakers and the White House don't reach a budget deal is the Defense Department, which is set to take about half the budget cuts. Discussions have been going on at the Pentagon on where the U.S. military will have to make nearly 10 percent reductions totaling $500 billion in the next decade.

The cuts are set to be massive, $50 billion a year for 10 years, and so are the consequences.

That's the warning from officials including the nation's top military officer, General Martin Dempsey.

"We can't yet say precisely how bad the damage would be, but it is clear that sequestration would risk hollowing out our force and reducing its military options available to the nation. We would go from being unquestionably powerful everywhere to being less visibly globally and presenting less of an overmatch to our adversaries, and that would translate into a different deterrent calculus and potentially, therefore, increase the likelihood of conflict," Dempsey said.

Visibility is a central part of U.S. strategy, which calls for shifting more forces to the Pacific, where the cuts would mean the Navy would have to slash the number of vessels operating in the region.

Other areas to be hit: research, technology, weapons, and training. Automatic cuts would not include troop reductions. The result, commanders say: a large number of people in uniform but insufficient training and equipment to support them.