Budget Cuts Shouldn’t Reduce GIs in Europe, Carlucci Says

Even if congressional budget cuts force a reduction in the size of the U.S. military, the number of American troops committed to Europe should not be cut, Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci said today.

Carlucci, who arrived this morning for a meeting of the NATO defense ministers, said that approach would undoubtedly spark political debate at home.

Cuts to the Pentagon budget “are going to hurt us substantially,” Carlucci told reporters as he flew across the Atlantic to his first North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting since assuming his post.

“As we begin to look at such things as force structure, there’s going to be a big political debate in the United States over ‘is NATO doing enough; how can you take down the force structure in the United States when you are not taking it down in Europe?’

“But I think we have to be true to the principle of forward deployment, because there’s never been a period that’s been more critical in NATO’s history.”

The scheduled signing next month of an accord with the Soviet Union eliminating intermediate range nuclear weapons has raised fears the United States is abandoning Europe, Carlucci said, and “you have to demonstrate that we are still there.”