NATO allies poised to slash military budgets; Gates urges other cost savings

From The Washington Post:

European allies are bracing for their deepest cuts in military spending since the end of the Cold War, fueling concerns in Washington that an already wide gap in military power between the United States and the rest of NATO will grow.

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, on a trip to London and Brussels this week, is pressing allies to hold the line as Pentagon officials fret they could be stuck with an even bigger share of the burden of the war in Afghanistan or future NATO missions.

On Tuesday, Gates said he was urging European leaders to avoid wholesale cuts to their active-duty forces and instead try to reduce overhead and other less essential programs.

For many European governments trying to recover from the global financial crisis, their armed forces are prime candidates for the chopping block.

In the United States, however, the Obama administration has declared defense and national security programs off-limits to the budget ax.