The Nation : Armed Forces to Be Cut by 100,000, Pentagon Predicts

The nation’s armed forces probably will be reduced by 100,000 service personnel by the mid-1990s as a result of budget cuts agreed to by the Administration and Congress, Deputy Defense Secretary William Howard Taft said. Taft told a Pentagon news briefing that the new five-year defense budget plan for the years 1990 through 1994 will be reduced on average about 11% to 12% from the amounts projected before the recent Administration budget “summit” with Congress. He estimated these cuts would cause a reduction of 4% to 5% in the 2.1 million-member armed forces, or about 100,000 men and women. Taft’s briefing was the first time a Pentagon official has estimated the magnitude of the reduction.