Unless Congress passes a law to reduce the long-term federal deficit by more than $1.2 trillion by January 2012, the debt limit deal, agreed upon last month, will result in two major cuts to the military budget.

The first cut will be a result of the so-called “sequestration,” which will slash as much as $600 billion from defense spending over the next decade. The second cut, which has been less noticed, will come from the debt limit deal’s so-called “trigger” provision that would place lower, multi-year ceilings—or “caps”—on discretionary spending for national defense. These caps alone would cut over $500 billion from what the Pentagon—excluding the annual costs of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq—is projected to spend in the next decade.