WASHINGTON: The Pentagon on Monday unveiled plans for "disciplined" defense spending for next year but offered up no contingency plans in case Congress fails to act to prevent sweeping cuts in military spending.
The Defense Department's request of $613 billion for fiscal year 2013 essentially holds military spending steady after a decade of gargantuan budgets, avoiding deep reductions while saving money from the withdrawal of US forces out of Iraq and a gradual troop drawdown in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon's base budget would reach $525.4 billion starting in October, slightly down compared to $530.6 in the current fiscal year, while war spending will decline to $88.5 billion compared to $115.1 billion.
Fiscal pressures have forced military chiefs to scale back projected spending by $487 billion over the next decade, a task that they have portrayed as tough but manageable.
Yet a threat of dramatic defense cuts is looming on the political horizon.
If Congress fails to agree on how to slash the deficit by January 2013, dramatic defense reductions of about $500 billion would be triggered under a law adopted last year.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and senior officials warn such cutbacks would be catastrophic and could jeopardize the country's military power. But the Pentagon has steadfastly insisted it will not draw up any fallback plan in the event of deadlock in Congress.
Spokesman George Little has said repeatedly that the department is not drafting plans for such a scenario and analysts say Panetta has calculated that even discussing contingencies could make the deep cuts more likely.
In outlining the defense department's proposed budget, the Pentagon touted the plan as a careful balancing of priorities that underscored an era of austerity after years of unfettered expansion.
"The proposed budget makes more disciplined use of defense dollars to maintain the world's finest military and sustain US global leadership," the department said in a statement.
Critics on the political right have warned the American military could be seriously weakened by the proposed spending plan, citing threats from Iran and China's growing power.
But voices on the left, including some of Obama's fellow Democrats in Congress, argue the defense budget is still bloated and have called for deeper cuts to weapons programs, including reducing spending on the nuclear arsenal.
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