Debating Hagel’s Call For A Smaller U.S. Military
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wants to downsize the military, shrink the US Army to the lowest levels since before World War II. We’ll look at what that would mean.
It’s “time for reality,” said U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel yesterday. And for the U.S. military, he said, that means cutting back and changing. America’s post 9/11 war-footing, not sustainable on America’s budget. Hagel and the Pentagon are now proposing the smallest standing U.S. Army since before World War II. Cutbacks in major equipment programs. More emphasis on technology and training. More Special Forces. The change comes with risk, Hagel said. But “this is time,” he said, “for reality.” This hour On Point: Implications of the new Pentagon budget, and the debate ahead.
Guests
Dion Nissenbaum, national security reporter for The Wall Street Journal. (@DionNissenbaum)
Russell Rumbaugh, director of the budgeting for foreign affairs and defense program at the Stimson Center.
Daniel Goure, vice president of the Lexington Institute.
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