The Hill News

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and newly-appointed Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta cautioned that steep cuts to military or diplomatic budgets could have severe effects on national security.

Under the debt-ceiling deal struck earlier this month, the Defense Department faces an additional $500 billion in cuts unless the deficit ‘supercommittee's’ suggestions are adopted.

{mosads}"[The proposed cuts] would break faith with troops and their families," Panetta said at National Defense University Tuesday. "It would literally undercut our ability to provide for the national defense."


Clinton echoed Panetta's concerns, warning that budget cuts were undermining the State Department's ability to engage in effective diplomacy worldwide.

"I have to tell you it does cast a pall over our ability to project the security interests that are in America's interest," Clinton said. "I'm not saying we should be exempt, but we have to d! o a reasonable analysis of what our needs are."

The two secretaries spoke at a National Defense University event.

Clinton cautioned that while cuts to foreign aid might be politically palatable, she believed that the United States was missing an opportunity for a modern day Marshall plan in response to the wave of popular uprisings in the Arab world.


"We have an opportunity right now in the Middle East and North Africa that I'm not sure we're going to be able to meet," Clinton said.

Panetta was questioned about a CBS report that the military was considering an overhaul of the military retirement system that would replace the current pension program with a 401(k)-style plan, and confirmed that the department was studying the idea.


"N! o decisions have been made, but it's the kind of thing that ha! s to be considered." Panetta said. "You have to look at everything on the table."


At the event, Clinton was also asked about the U.S. response to the conflict in Syria and again avoided explicitly calling on Syrian President Bashar Assad to resign.

Panetta refused to comment on reports that the Pakistanis had allowed the Chinese to study wreckage from the stealth helicopter that crashed during the Osama bin Laden raid. 


Panetta was also asked about the possibility of political engagement with the Taliban in Afghanistan, a strategy that American officials have shied away from in the past.


"Part of the mission is supporting Afghani reconciliation," Panetta said. "There has to be political resolution… but we want this to be Afghani led and Afghani owned."


While the secretaries were primarily concerned with pushing back against possible budget cuts, they also took time to promote increased cooperation between their dep! artments. Clinton and former Defense Secretary Gates notoriously took great pains to coordinate their missions prior to Gates' retirement.


"We are a nation that has a special role in the world - a special role because of our military power, a special role because of our diplomatic power," Panetta said.