Top U.S. general urges Congress to think again on defense cuts

By Adrian Croft WIESBADEN Germany (Reuters) - Congress should look hard at whether to continue automatic budget cuts that weaken the U.S. military at a time when security around the world is deteriorating, a top U.S. general said on Wednesday. The rapid advance of Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria and Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region has fueled calls by current and former military chiefs and the U.S. defense industry for a rethink of the hundreds of billions of dollars in automatic cuts, known as "sequestration". "With a deteriorating security situation around the world, I think it's time to ... really take a hard look at whether we should continue with sequestration," Army Chief of Staff General Ray Odierno told a small group of reporters at the Conference of European Armies in Wiesbaden, Germany. "I think that is a debate that it is absolutely essential to have over the next year," he said. "If sequestration occurs we are going to have to continue to downsize the army. We are going to have to decide where we do it," he said. It was difficult to make defense cuts affecting the continental United States because "Congress doesn’t like that either," he said. The Pentagon has been struggling to implement nearly $1 trillion in cuts to projected spending over a decade as required by a 2011 law. The law required $487 billion in direct cuts to defense spread over a decade, plus another $500 billion in automatic, across-the-board reductions that would not take place if Congress negotiated an alternative way to curb spending. Congress failed to reach a deal and the across-the-board cuts, known as sequestration, went into effect for the first time last year. The United States currently has some 67,000 military personnel in Europe, a sharp cut from a peak of around 400,000 during the Cold War, and the U.S. Army has been closing and consolidating garrisons in Germany. More across-the-board reductions could mean more cuts to the U.S. military in Europe. "Sequestration has been a challenge. It will continue to be if it stays on the books and is not changed by our Congress," Lieutenant-General Donald Campbell, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe, told reporters. "We believe that the structure here in Europe is about right. Certainly from an army perspective I believe it is." Military chiefs faced "some decisions if sequestration stays on the table regarding force structure in the army, and in Europe," Campbell said. (Editing by Tom Heneghan)