Nominee says shrinking Army puts U.S. at risk

During his confirmation hearing last Thursday, Eric Fanning, President Barack Obama’s nominee to be the next secretary of the Army, told a largely receptive Senate Armed Services Committee that cuts to the Army’s troop levels had already increased American security risks.

“I do worry about the size of the Army today,” Fanning told the committee.

Cuts to the size of the active Army, which at its wartime peak had about 570,000 soldiers, started before the growth of the Islamic State (ISIS) or Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Fanning told the committee he was worried about plans to further reduce the Army’s size from 490,000 active-duty troops to 450,000 by 2018.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said if the mandated budget cuts—known as sequestration—were not reversed, “the Army will shrink to 420,000 troops, increasing the risk that in a crisis, we will have too few soldiers who could enter a fight without proper training or equipment.” Fanning did not dispute McCain’s assessment.

Fanning served at senior civilian levels in all three branches of the military, including as acting secretary of the Air Force, and members of the committee were largely positive about his nomination. The committee adjourned without voting on whether to approve him. If the Senate confirmed his nomination, Fanning would become the first openly gay leader of a U.S. military service.

In a response to a question from Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., about media reports indicating the Pentagon is considering downgrading retired Gen. David Petraeus’rank from four to three stars, Fanning said he didn’t support the decision and believed no further action should be taken against the former CIA director.

Petraeus resigned from the CIA in November 2012 after an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell. He later pleaded guilty to one misdemeanor charge of mishandling classified information. Both McCain and the committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, have urged Defense Secretary Ash Carter not to demote Petraeus.

“We are concerned such a retirement grade review, taking place nearly a year after the misdemeanor conviction in which Gen. Petraeus admitted his guilt and apologized for his actions, is manifestly unreasonable and unfair," they wrote in a letter to Carter.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.