The Pentagon was quick to quell media reports that the US now plans to make a much larger cut to American forces in South Korea, dropping well below the previously announced 25,000 troops. A press release says “around 25,000.” According to Stars and Stripes, a US defense official told reporters that there could be an “additional reduction, but it would not be “a substantial reduction.” US and South Korean defense officials have been working on the appropriate future mix of command relationships, since Seoul said it wants to have more control.
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
