Defense Department leaders have repeatedly warned that doom awaits the military if Congress remains unable to find the $1.2 trillion in savings needed to avert a new round of massive DOD cuts in 2013, but the prospect that lawmakers might succeed in reaching a debt deal next year also has some Pentagon officials concerned. As DOD nears the completion of its fiscal year 2013 budget process in the run up to the formal release of the president's budget request in February, the department faces the potential for $600 billion in sequestration cuts because a congressional supercommittee failed to find the needed savings. But if lawmakers in the coming months successfully broker a debt deal to avoid sequestration, they could still include significant defense cuts below the Pentagon's requested FY-13 topline.
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