US Military Budget, Personnel Cuts Hard to Implement Amid World Crises

As the complex problems facing the world require US involvement in their resolving, American military budget won't be cut, US Secretary of the Army John McHugh said.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Cuts in the US military’s budget and number of personnel will not be feasible when the complex problems facing the world still merit American involvement in it, McHugh said in a speech.

"And I’ve testified should either of those [cuts] occur, let alone both, somebody’s going to have to ask us to tell us to stop doing something, and, frankly, as I look at the world right now, I’m not sure what that would be," McHugh said at the American Enterprise Institute on Tuesday.

McHugh discussed major issues facing the US military going forward, including its size and shape, as further reductions of its budget and personnel are likely to occur.

The Secretary of the US Army stated that any future budget reductions will put the US military in a very bad place.

"This is a critical turning point for the US Army and for the Department of Defense, and obviously, logically, for the nation," McHugh explained.

He also expressed concern about the number of civilian employees in the US Army being cut down to 233,000 employees — a reduction of more than 50,000 civilians — and its impact on how the military will be able to accomplish its goals.

"We can’t do what we need to do as an army, what people think about when they think of armies, without these civilians doing it," McHugh warned.

McHugh has served as Secretary of the US Army since September 21, 2009. Previously, he served in the US House of Representatives from 1993 until 2009.