The Pentagon plans to trim roughly $60 billion from its budget over the next six years, the New York Times reported in late December 2004, marking the first reduction in US military spending since the September 2001 attacks.
The proposal, which would need congressional approval, calls for retiring one of the Navy's 12 aircraft carriers, procuring fewer amphibious vessels for the Marine Corps, and deferring a high-cost Army modernization program built around advanced weapons systems.
The reductions respond to White House pressure on federal agencies to pare back their spending requests for fiscal year 2006, which are due before Congress in early 2005. The administration has faced growing demands to narrow widening deficits while sustaining military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which together cost more than $5 billion a month.
Defense spending climbed 41 percent after the 2001 attacks, reaching around $420 billion. The 2006 budget alone would be cut by as much as $10 billion under the plan.
Historical summary. TurkishPress restated this AFP wire report, first published in December 2004, in its own words.