Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, September 2, 1993                   TAG: 9309020184
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From The Washington Post and The Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

MILITARY TO SHRINK

The new strategy turns the military's focus from countering the one-time Soviet superpower to fighting regional conflicts, providing humanitarian relief as it has done in Somalia and acting as peacekeepers.

Defense Secretary Les Aspin warned Wednesday that additional base closings will be required under a new, post-Cold War defense strategy that spares the Navy and Marine Corps from deep cuts.

With the Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman standing by his side at a crowded briefing, Aspin unveiled the Pentagon's five-year proposal that retains a relatively high level of forces and places added emphasis on developing modern weapons.

Release of the administration's "bottom-up review" - a six-month effort to rethink the shape and purpose of the post-Cold War military - was as noteworthy for what the plan would not change as for what it would.

In many respects, it proposes only modest adjustments to the post-Cold War "base force" envisioned by the Bush administration. The Army would still rely heavily on armored infantry divisions, the Navy on carrier battle groups.

The mix of active-duty and reserve forces would not be fundamentally altered. The size of the armed forces would shrink to 1.4 million uniformed personnel by 1999, compared with 1.6 million under Bush's plan.

Aspin acknowledged that, under the proposal, more U.S. bases will need to be closed beyond the next round of scheduled closings in 1995. He provided no specifics. "It's very tough to do. It's a very difficult part of this thing. But this is absolutely critical," he said of cutting the military's infrastructure.