THE FACTS: There have been no “massive defense cuts’’ under Obama, although he has slowed the projected rate of increase and in April asked the Pentagon to identify another $400 billion in reductions over the next 12 years. When he took office, the defense budget was $513 billion, not counting another $153 billion to pay for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. For the budget year that ended Sept. 30, the figure was $530 billion, with an additional $159 billion to pay for the wars.
For the current fiscal year, Obama requested $553 billion for the defense budget, exclusive or war costs. But in a deal worked out by Congress and the White House as part of a deficit-reduction plan in August, he was forced to come down to $513 billion.
As for troop numbers, Obama’s previous defense secretary, Robert Gates, put the Army and Marine Corps on a path to reducing troop numbers to adjust to the winding down of combat in Iraq and plans to reduce troops in Afghanistan. The Army is to drop from its current 569,000 to 547,000 by September 2013, and then to 520,000 by 2015. The Marines are to drop from their current total of 202,000 to a figure yet to be specified but in the neighborhood of 186,000 by 2015.
Adding another 100,000 troops is expensive, and it’s not clear from Romney’s remarks what they would do. The Marine Corps, for example, actually wants to cut its size. It has traditionally numbered around 175,000, and was bumped up to 202,000 temporarily to address its long “Army-like’’ missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once those are over it wants to get back to its core mission, which is not extended land warfare.
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