Pentagon budget request would reduce troops

The Pentagon‘s coming budget request will reduce overall troop strength as the combat mission in Afghanistan recedes and budget restraint dominates the conversation in Washington, top defense officials said Monday.

For the first time in more than a decade, the Defense Department is presenting a budget to Congress that isn’t a “war-footing” request, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said. “It’s a defining budget because it starts to reset, reshape … rebalance, redefine our enterprise for the future.”