Defense Secretary Leon Panetta wants the U.S. Army to shrink to 490,000 soldiers from 570,000 rather than to 520,000 soldiers, UPI quoted Pentagon officials as saying. But he and President Barack Obama do not want to reduce the number of U.S. aircraft carriers from 11, the officials and military analysts told The New York Times as Panetta was to unveil an eight-month review of possible military spending cuts. Panetta and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey were to discuss the possible cuts, affecting hundreds of billions of dollars, in an unusual Defense Department news conference at 10:50 a.m. EST Thursday. Obama was to appear in the Pentagon briefing room and make remarks ahead of those by Panetta and Dempsey, the White House said. Obama has never briefed reporters at the Pentagon, and administration officials told the Times they knew of no other president who had. Obama's election-year presence is intended to show the president as being engaged in developing a new military strategy that will downsize the Pentagon and end expensive, troop-intensive ground wars, the Times said. Obama led a half-dozen strategy meetings with top Pentagon and military officials since September, the White House said. Military experts familiar with Panetta's thinking told the Times Obama opposed reducing the U.S. carrier fleet to 10 from 11 because he saw a need to have enough Pacific Ocean force. The Army was slated to drop to 520,000 soldiers from 570,000, a 9 percent reduction. But Panetta saw retaining 520,000 soldiers and too expensive and not needed, saying an Army of 490,000, or a 14 percent reduction, was sufficient, officials told the Times.
