Obama's anticipated nominations of CIA Director Leon Panetta to replace the retiring Robert Gates as Defense secretary and Gen. David Petraeus as CIA director, which are expected to be announced Thursday, signal continuity both for the administration's strategy in Afghanistan and its determination to take on wide-ranging missions with limited resources/…/Beyond the current wars, Panetta will be tasked with manning, equipping and training U.S. forces for future fights while dealing with smaller budgets. Obama has called for $400 billion in defense cuts over the next 12 years/…/The task, says Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, is "What kind of military to do we need in the next 10 years, and what weapons systems could we do without?"
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