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发帖数: 29846 | 1 By Megan Scully
Updated: June 21, 2011 | 5:15 p.m.
June 21, 2011 | 1:54 p.m.
In a rare moment of bipartisan agreement, the Senate on Tuesday voted
unanimously to confirm CIA chief Leon Panetta as the next Defense secretary.
Panetta, who sailed through his confirmation hearing before the Senate Armed
Services Committee earlier this month, will succeed Robert Gates at the
Pentagon on July 1 during a particularly crucial time for the Defense
Department, both at home and overseas.
From his first day on the job, Panetta will be tasked with implementing the
start of troop withdrawals from Afghanistan; President Obama is to announce
the plans on Wednesday.
Like others before him, Panetta has called progress in Afghanistan “fragile
and reversible,” but he said he believes that the administration can begin
to significantly reduce the U.S. presence there. During his confirmation
hearing, Panetta also said that any cuts to the deployed U.S. force should
be based on conditions on the ground and should not put at risk plans to
pull combat troops out of the country by 2014.
Panetta’s thinking appears to be in line with Obama's. The president is
expected to announce plans for a “phased withdrawal” that would bring one
combat brigade, or about 5,000 troops, home over the summer and begin
pulling out a second brigade by the end of the year.
As he implements the Afghanistan drawdown, Panetta must also manage the
military’s ongoing operations in Iraq and Libya--and the latter could
become an early political challenge for the new Defense secretary despite
his strong relationships on Capitol Hill. Lawmakers are growing increasingly
frustrated with Obama’s refusal to seek congressional approval for the
Libya operations, and some are agitating to cut off funding for the effort.
Within the Pentagon itself, the former Office of Management and Budget
director and House Budget Committee chairman faces the daunting task of
cutting the Defense Department’s budget, which has more than doubled during
the last decade, including war funding. Obama has announced plans to slash
$400 billion from security spending over the next 12 years, and the military
’s budget is expected to bear the brunt of those reduced.
The Pentagon is now undergoing a “comprehensive review” to determine which
areas--including force structure and missions--should be cut. Panetta said
he agrees with the approach that the department is taking to find the cuts,
and said that the Pentagon must “look at each area and determine where we’
re going to achieve savings in order to protect defense.” |
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