Budgeting for a new military vision – CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta unveiled details of a budget plan that slices half a trillion dollars in spending increases over the next 10 years and serves as blueprint for the administration's vision of how America's military needs to change.

The savings would begin in October, the start of fiscal year 2013.

Panetta, speaking Thursday at the Pentagon, said he will request a total budget that is $33 billion smaller than the current one. All told, his plan meets Congress's mandate to reduce Pentagon spending by $487 billion in the next 10 years.

To accomplish that, Panetta said, a new strategy was developed for the military force of the future, one that will allow the Pentagon "to fashion the agile and flexible military force we need for the future." For example, he said, the Army will save money by pulling two of its four brigades out of permanent bases in Europe to bases in the United States.

But at the same time, the Army will increase rotational deployments to bases so more units will have an opportunity to train with NATO allies. And the Navy will be getting rid of older ships that don't have the latest ballistic missile defense but buying new ones that will have that capability.