Pentagon: Army at 'High Risk'

The budget crisis may be temporarily subdued, but Pentagon and Army officials say declining budgets means the country is ill equip to handle defense. A briefing last month for Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Cartor deemed plans to downsize forces to below the 490,000 active-duty soldiers it plans to have by 2017, at "high risk to meet one major war," and says war is likely to break out again. But critics say the Army just needs to restructure and optimize efficiency, and the non-partisan Stimson Center deemed 450,000 soldiers not too small for a counterinsurgency and stability operations.