IN PREPARATION FOR A $525-billion budget request, the US Department of Defense announced on 26 January its spending priorities for the upcoming 2013 Fiscal Year. As part of this, the DoD confirmed that while a focus will be maintained on the Middle East, the budget funds an increase in the US commitment to the Asia-Pacific region. Rather than providing the capability to conduct two major operations, the revised force structure ensures that the US will 'be able to defeat a major adversary in one theatre while denying aggression elsewhere or imposing unacceptable costs' on an aggressor. The spending cuts total $259 billion over the Future Year Defense Plan (FYDP) that runs from 2013-17 and $487 billion over 10 years. Two more rounds of Base Realignments and Closures (BRAC) are likely in 2013 and 2015.
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