Clinton Plans for Deeper Troop Cuts

The Clinton Administration signaled for the first time Wednesday that it plans deeper reductions in military troop levels after its first round of cuts are achieved in 1997.

The result would be a military force considerably smaller than the one envisioned by former President George Bush and even, at one time, by President Clinton himself.

Clinton’s five-year defense budget proposal, which offers the first glimpse of the Administration’s defense spending plans if Clinton wins a second term, proposes Pentagon spending reductions of $39.2 billion in 1998. That reduction would bring to $123.9 billion the President’s proposed cuts between 1994 and 1998--a far steeper decline in Pentagon spending than Clinton had projected throughout his presidential campaign.

The budget blueprint, released Wednesday, indicates that Clinton plans relatively modest reductions in Pentagon spending now to pay for domestic programs. In 1994, for instance, he has proposed trimming $11.8 billion from the Pentagon’s $275.5-billion budget plan.

But the blueprint also makes clear that much steeper reductions would come later. Clinton’s projected $39.2-billion defense cut in 1998 would be the biggest single reduction in that account for any of the five years projected.

The cut virtually ensures that in 1998 and beyond the number of U.S. troops--now at about 1,775,000--would fall well below the 1.4 million figure that the Clinton Administration projected as its target for 1997. That decrease is certain to cause the U.S. military services further anguish as they plan their personnel drawdowns.

The Bush Administration, with the enthusiastic backing of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, had proposed setting what former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney called a “rock-bottom” base level of U.S. forces at about 1,620,000. Below that level, warned Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the quality of U.S. forces and their ability to meet commitments abroad would be dangerously compromised.

Powell said recently that the cuts Clinton and Defense Secretary Les Aspin had proposed through 1997 “do not go to the point of breaking the force.” But he and other leaders are said to be profoundly wary of troop reductions beyond that level. With active-duty U.S. troop strength already at its lowest point since the beginning of the Korean War, attempts to reduce troop levels beyond 1.4 million will meet fierce resistance from the armed forces.

American active-duty troops peaked in 1987 at almost 2.2 million men and women.

In the four-year period leading up to 1998, Aspin has proposed cutting $88 billion from the Bush Administration’s defense plan. That goes well beyond the $60-billion reduction that Clinton promised during that period. But senior Pentagon officials said Aspin was forced to deepen his cuts after discovering that the Bush Administration defense program was underfunded.

In addition, Clinton has imposed pay restrictions on all government workers, including those in uniform. Pentagon officials said $18 billion would be saved between 1994 and 1998 from a freeze on pay in 1994 and a reduction of 1 percentage point in the cost-of-living increases proposed for 1995 to 1997.