Troops in Afghanistan and beyond "Sometime this year, there must be decisions on how to downsize in Afghanistan," write The Washington Post's Walter Pincus, "and what arrangements can be made to keep U.S. forces there after 2014, whether to send military trainers back to Iraq, and how to respond if Congress authorizes dispatching Special Forces to Nigeria to assist in fighting a terrorist group, as it did when U.S. troops were sent to help battle the Lord’s Resistance Army in central Africa."

One-size fits all military vehicles Time's defense reporter Mark Thompson writes that building planes and tanks for a variety of different missions has cost the military dearly. One weapons program in particular is the F-35, one of the most expensive in history. "The military didn’t learn its lesson with the TFX ('Tactical Fighter Experimental,' which became the F-111) debacle 50 years ago, and it’s not learning it anew with the F-35. Building warplanes for three services through the Marine template – single engine (VSTOL requirement), compact design (Marine amphibs don’t have much room) – means the nation’s cutting-edge fighting fleet will be compromised in ways we only now are beginning to comprehend."

Research and development This is an area that Congress is looking to cut, notes The Post, but Panetta may try to maintain funding for it. "Do you modernize all three legs of the nuclear triad — strategic bombers, land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles and strategic submarines? While dealing with these questions, Panetta must also protect money for operations, maintenance, and research and development, the favorite areas for congressional budget cutters."

Standing army sizes "The Army is now set to drop to 520,000 soldiers, beginning in 2015, although few expect that to be the floor," reports The Times. "The reality is that the United States may not be able to afford waging two wars at once ... The Army chief of staff, Gen. Ray Odierno, the former commander in Iraq, points out that the Army had 480,000 people in uniform before the Sept. 11 attacks, and at that number was supposed to be able to fight two wars at once. But the Army proved to be too small to sustain the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and was increased to its current size of 570,000."

This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.