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Kristina Young / Handout / EPA
The USS Harry S. Truman at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic Ocean in December 2012.
Published 6:30 p.m. ET: Budget constraints are prompting the U.S. Navy to cut back the number of aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region from two to one, the latest example of how contentious fiscal battles in Washington are impacting the U.S. military.
According to Defense Department officials, the USS Harry S. Truman, which was set to leave for the Persian Gulf region on Friday, will now remain stateside, based in Norfolk, Virginia.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the change to the department’s “two-carrier policy” in the Persian Gulf region early Wednesday.
The U.S. has steadily kept two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf for much of the last two years. In 2010, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a directive to keep two in the area given the volatility of the region.
The cutback is largely a result of automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, passed by Congress during the summer of 2011. Congress has failed to pass a budget for the fiscal year, and has instead opted on passing legislation that will keep spending at the same level as last year. But that means the Pentagon has been operating with less money and is unsure of what the future holds for its bottom line.
Under sequestration, the Navy would lose $4 billion over the next six months, the last half of fiscal year 2013. The Navy was already $4.6 billion in the hole for this year because the continuing resolution for 2013 was budgeted at 2012 rates.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta tells NBC's Chuck Todd if a sequester is allowed to happen it will "badly damage" the readiness of the U.S. military.
Navy officials say the Defense Department ordered members of their branch and all services to “prepare for sequestration,” even though it’s not yet clear the automatic budgets cuts will kick in next month.
“We cut back to one carrier in the Gulf region to save money now, or wait until sequestration and be forced to cut back to zero carriers,” a senior defense official told NBC News.
It’s not certain whether the Defense Department or the White House would permit a zero carrier presence in the Persian Gulf, no matter what the budget constraints, given rising tensions over Iran. The Truman would still conduct exercises off the US East Coast and would be “surge ready” in the event of an emergency or disaster.
A statement from Pentagon Press Secretary George Little assured that the United States will “maintain a robust presence” in the area, but cited the pending sequestration cuts as the reason the Navy sent Panetta the request.
“This prudent decision enables the U.S. Navy to maintain these ships to deploy on short notice in the event they are needed to respond to national security contingencies,” read the statement.
Revelation of the cutbacks comes the same day as news that Panetta is recommending military pay increases be limited to one percent in 2014. Uniformed military will still get a raise, but it will be much smaller “to reflect the difficult budget decisions” facing the department, a defense official told NBC News.
At a speech Wednesday, the outgoing secretary of defense warned that the budget battles in Washington are putting America at risk.
“The Department of Defense and other agencies across government have been living under a serious shadow -- the shadow of sequestration ... Today, with another trigger for sequestration approaching on March 1st, the Department of Defense is facing the most serious readiness crisis in over a decade,” he said to a crowd at Georgetown University.
“Make no mistake, if these cuts happen there will be a serious disruption in defense programs and a sharp decline in military readiness,” Panetta said in his speech Wednesday.
“We have begun an all-out effort to plan for how to operate under such a scenario, but it is already clear that no good options exist.”
On Tuesday, President Obama called on Congress to pass “a small package of spending cuts and tax reforms” to avoid the automated cuts set to kick in at the beginning of next month.
Republican Sens. John McCain and Kelly Ayotte – who have toured the country warning that sequestration cuts could put U.S. national defense at risk – responded on Wednesday by introducing a bill that would avoid cuts by slashing the federal workforce by 10 percent.
Additional reporting from Courtney Kube
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The less money we spend on the military, the less likely we will start a new war. A large military is not a deterrent, it is a reason to start a war, because you have to justify a large military, and the best way to do that is to have a war. The longer we go without a war the more people begin to wonder why we need this large military. If Iran and North Korea weren't around you can bet they would find some other country. When they started the "War On Terror", a war that will never end, they created a permanent reason for a large military.
Sure, we need a small teeny tiny military... no one will mess with us right libby? Go take a stroll though a Chicago neighborhood has had historical murder numbers. If your logic is sound, you have nothing to worry about and they know you will not start any trouble!! Heck! Chicago had one of the MOST strictest gun laws, you have nothing to worry about.
Got to love you liberal cry baby comments, I bet 95% of you have not served in the military, yet you are going to spout off on how you know how to handle our nations defence.. If ya never had to salute a pimple faced butter bar, keep ya damn mouth shut.. I am just about fed up with all you console warriors talking crap.
Done my time on Uncle Sams dime..
4 /68th armor 82nd Airborne " Iron Angels"
3/64th Armor 3 inf div
2/2 Cav Reg "thunder run"
All of you bozos that say taking the carrier dont understand that you are leaving troops on the ground without protection. They can drop bombs when asked to protect Americans.
Obama doesn't believe in "torture", which water boarding doesn't qualify as being: they are not injuring, beating, or disabling anyone. Yet, he thinks that is it okay to kill Americans with a bomb from a drone with no due process, just on His whim... He is judge, jury, executioner.
ROFL at the people who think that obama would do anything to secure the borders, he is TRYING to secure all the dummycrat low info voters he can!
Let them in then legalize them!
Hmm, why pull a carrier from the Gulf when there's so many other ways to save defense money. Can it be this is a Department of Defense ploy to get attention and say to Americans "God, we're gonna be insecure".
Time we told the military-industrial complex: "Shove you're greedy lobbying where the sun don't shine and tighten your belts like the rest of us - close unneeded bases, mothball unneeded missiles, silos, ships, aircraft, shut down billion dollar development contracts to combat the non-existent USSR; spend more money on cost-effective tools like making drones work better"
We are still spending way more on our military than the next 10 (or so) leading countries combined. We could cut 500 billion dollars and still be far ahead of the next leading country, China. I don't know how anyone can worry about small defense cuts when you look at the facts.
They are dusting off the charts of the North Western Pacific Ocean. . . Korea, here we come.
what our dear leader is trying to say is @!$%# the chinks and @!$%# the japs and @!$%# the gooks and @!$%# the jews and @!$%# the commies and @!$%# the ruskies and @!$%# the wops and @!$%# the frenchies and @!$%# the crou... etc boiled down it says @!$%# YOU.
not my true belief but close.. never ever take anyone's word for the truth just look into their eyes and look into their hearts. There you will see the answer to all your questions,.
America can kill you so lay down and die.
We are the surpeme race and can not be defeated..
Nice...........people like you Warren arn't worth fighting for. Your a HATE Monger!
The carrier fleet in the persian gulf should be reduced to zero. The carrier fleet in the world should be reduced to zero. Park the planes on airfields and save the money.
One way to save a few bucks is to bring back the draft. I know for a fact, family members, that got $30,000.00 to join up with the NG, never mind the regular army. One did go to regular Army boot camp and then Afganistan. I got my draft notice in 1951. I didn't want to go into the army so I joined the navy and went for UDT/Frog training, not my choice. Made a survey in Korea but they never followed up with the invasion because we pushed the gooks north too fast right past where the invasion was supposed to be! Thats when our mission changed. Went to some island for more ground training for 2 weeks. After that we went ashore to blow up whatever was worth blowing up, supplied security for marine signalmen directing fire control co-ords for the New Jersey. Almost craped my pants the first time a 16" shell passed right over my head. I think what happened to us was the reason they instituted the seals in 62. They get much, much, better training then we got. We went into the China mainland to extract two english flyers and got picked up by the HMS Newcastle, a light cruiser, we drank some rum. when I finaly got out the gave me $300.00 and a bus ticket, that was it!
Here are a couple of reasons why one carrier is more than enough:
One carrier has a full compliment of the most advanced fighter aircraft on earth.
Each carrier carries a full compliment of tactical nuclear weapons. THAT's more explosive yeild than all the bombs dropped during ALL OF WWII.
LOL!!! Ummm...no. You really need to lay off the Tom Clancy novels.
DSP - CAPT/USNR
There was a time when nuclear weapons were carried by naval surface ships. But the gutting of our nuclear capabilities ended that some time ago.
Well as Bob Dylan sang it "Times they are a changing" (Dylan, 1964), for better or worse
we spend more on defense then the other top 24 nations combined, its really about time we stop some of the waste and demand our monies worth. with 800 billion it could not be that hard to save 25 billion from the defense budget
I am sure our enemies will be delighted to read this. What in the hell kind of Defense Secretary would broadcast to the world we are unable to defend a particular region? What in the hell kind of President would advocate that same action?
Guess we will just have live within our budget! Send the Military when we need to....no need to baby sit the world. For goodness sake...why do we need our military in areas around the world like Germany, Korea, Japan, etc. Bring them home and save BILLIONS.
We only there to protect the Interest of the Corps and Bain Capital. hell! send tag over. It makes me sick when they want the poor, Black, Hisp. to fight their dirty wars or to start them so they can get Richer. I yes I did my four years did you right winger do it.
So lets get rid of our defense while we let the true destruction thrive in the white house. Cut military spending so our country is left vulnerable while the spending addiction of our criminal government goes on. I guess it's a question of what our priorities are. Do we keep and O-Abomination in the white house, his spending Millions a day for vacations or do we keep our national security and keep our country safe. O-Abomination sure is separating and dividing our nation, making unrest for his concur and treason. Since we are bringing them home could they please help fight against this treasonous tyranny destroying our nation. But NO? Keep his over spending addiction thriving while we cut programs that help America, His agenda and criminal acts destroying our nation. Imagine that,,either good our bad and we get Terrible.
Slash the Senate and Congress by 10% also.
It's so funny how the lunatic libs have all the right answers, but can't accept their many failures. How are things in in California? I know, there oh so wonderful!
This is acceptable so long as the carrier remains capable of being deployed in time of need (which it seems like they are doing). Some may call it overkill but I really enjoy owning half of the worlds aircraft carriers.
There are always carriers on deployment around the world, even while others are in dry dock for DPIA's for refueling or pier side for normal PIA's or work-up. The one's on work-ups and carrier quals for the pilots are the ones getting ready for deployments.
@Satanick
He did emphasize the risks already and he was shot down and told by his commander in chief he will make cuts period. No one would disagree that spending 800 dollars on a toilet seat is a waste of money. Not having enough people on staff should an event take place is asking for trouble.
Many of the jobs and or roles for these service men rely on them doing it in the field to be the best at it. It is the foundation of our services. You want budgets trim? There is a crap load of them sitting in chairs doing nothing on a hill in Washington DC spending our tax dollars and we get nothing out of it, and they get fat checks, medical and retirement plans that are ridiculous. At least we get something with our Armed services and we provide jobs for people willing to put themselves on our front lines. We should get the word out and stop electing the people to congress repeatedly, lets push for term limits and to stop expanding their retirement packages when most of us cant afford to buy food and clothing for our families.!!!!!
It's a start, hopefully more cut backs are coming also. I'm tired of the US being the policemen of the world....No one likes us anyway, so just pull back and let them take care of themselves..
Well, he has to pay for his healthcare somehow....
Since the whole f'in world hates the USA, military spending cuts is a stupid idea...
It is about time. If the world wants us to be the policeman, the world can pay us.