Obama Outlines New Defense Strategy

President Barack Obama outlined a new general military strategy Thursday designed to maintain the superiority of the U.S. Armed Forces while scaling back its numbers and cutting its budget.

The strategy includes hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to the military. The plan continues to invest in counter-terrorism, intelligence gathering, cyber warfare and addressing the proliferation of nuclear weapons while significantly reducing the number of U.S. troops.

"We must put our fiscal house in order here at home and renew our long-term economic strength," Obama wrote in a letter accompanying the defense strategy report. "To that end, the Budget Control Act of 2011 mandates reductions in federal spending, including defense spending."

Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was with Obama at the press conference, said in a prepared statement, "I do not believe that we must choose between national security and fiscal responsibility."

He continued, "The President has made clear, and I have made clear, that the savings we have been mandated to achieve must be driven by strategy and rigorous analysis, not by the numbers alone."

Specific details on Pentagon budget cuts are expected to be released when the final budget proposal is completed later this month. For more details, see the Defense Strategic Guidance plan.

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