Army secretary: No troop loss in Europe,
but restructuring of headquarters likely
By Lisa Burgess,
Washington bureau
WASHINGTON — The Army is not going to lose any of its 480,000 troops as a result
of the Bush administration’s ongoing military review, but there likely will be some
shifts from Europe to Asia in administrative and weaponry levels, according to the top
Army official.
Speaking to reporters Thursday, Army Secretary Thomas White said he and other senior
Army leaders have made their case, "in my opinion, convincingly," to Defense
Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) should not
recommend cuts to the Army’s forces, which already are stretched to the limit with
deployments such as Kosovo and Bosnia.
The QDR is a congressionally mandated planning document that is due to Capitol Hill
lawmakers Sept. 30.
"I don’t think the 480,000 [troop number] will shift much," White said.
"There is a general recognition that the rate of deployment is beyond where most of
us in senior leadership think it should be. I don’t think anyone wants to make the
[deployment tempo] situation worse."
White warned, however, that he could not guarantee that the Army’s size will be
unaffected by the QDR. "It’s the Secretary [Rumsfeld] and the President’s
decision," he said.
Rumsfeld and Deputy Undersecretary Paul Wolfowitz have consistently ducked questions on
whether or not the QDR would recommend force cuts. Both senior leaders have, however,
indicated that the QDR is likely to shift U.S. defense policy away from Europe and toward
Asia.
White acknowledged that "there could well be [changes] in the relative weightings
between Europe and the Pacific" for Army troops. Of approximately 100,000 U.S. troops
in Europe, 65,000 are Army soldiers. The Army has a much smaller presence in Asia —
of about 100,000 U.S. troops there, 20,000 are Army troops, including 18,000 soldiers in
Korea, and about 2,000 soldiers in Japan.
White said that if troops were removed from Europe and added to Asia, there would be
implications for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, as well as U.S. allies in Asia.
"Certainly, there are broad strategic implications both on the political and the
military side that will have to be dealt with as we change the posture — if
that’s what the secretary and the president decide to do."
Therefore, any changes in Europe will probably affect only soldiers assigned to
headquarters, not the four combat brigades currently forward-based in Europe, White said.
"It’s hard to see how we could get away with fewer combat brigades" in
Europe, White said.
"What I could see in Germany is the restructuring of headquarters. Do you need
four headquarters and their supporting elements and theater-level headquarters?"
White said that Rumsfeld has told the services to downsize 15 of their current
headquarters structure, and "I want to do better than that."
White also said that weaponry and equipment stored in Germany and Italy for use by
troop reinforcements in the event of war will be moved to Asia. No troops would be moved
with the equipment, he said.
"It’s a signal, once again, that we’re going to shift our available
resources around to fit the [new] strategy," White said.
He did not say exactly how much weaponry and equipment would be moved. Aides to White
said at least some of the equipment now in Europe may be stored on Diego Garcia, an island
in the Indian Ocean.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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