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As the country wrestles with a looming debt crisis as well as what the Pentagon insists are growing security threats post-9/11, President Obama rolled out a new, more "realistic" national defense strategy Thursday.聽

In doing so, the administration must walk a tricky line, issuing enough warnings about looming dangers to stave off calls for deeper spending cuts, yet also offering election-year reassurances to voters about the strength of American security.聽

The ultimate point of the defense strategic review is to bring the US military in line with the fiscal realities of trillion-dollar deficits. Yet if Congress insists on spending cuts, Pentagon officials have warned for months, then the United States must accept that the armed forces will have to be less ambitious.

Indeed, the strategy released Thursday, called 鈥淪ustaining US Global Leadership: Priorities for the 21st Century,鈥澛燾autions that the US military is at a 鈥渟trategic turning point鈥� 鈥�- one in which 鈥渢he balance between available resources and our security needs has never been more delicate.鈥澛�

Clearly, the Pentagon feels that, in many ways, its job has never been tougher. Not only does the possibility of a conventional war (say, against China) remain, but the Pentagon must also be prepared to continue the fight against terrorism and perhaps even strike Iran. These skill sets are often at odds with one another and enormously costly to maintain 鈥� requiring different training, equipment, and priorities.聽

The question, then, is how willing the Pentagon will be to play the "fear" card 鈥� warning of the potentially catastrophic consequences of budget cuts 鈥� even as Congress is convulsed by runaway federal spending.

The strategy announced Thursday takes a large step back from the counterinsurgency operations that America has been conducting in Iraq and Afghanistan for the past decade. Instead, it turns its attention towards the broader Middle East, cyberwarfare, and the Pacific as the epicenter of the new security challenges that the United States will face.

As a result, the size of the Army and Marines will shrink. The force "will be smaller and leaner, but its great strength will be that it is more agile, flexible, ready to deploy, innovative, and technologically advanced," Defense Secretary Leon Panetta 蝉补颈诲.听

At the same time, the US military will focus on projecting its power in the Pacific, and for that, defense officials say, it will need aircraft carriers and stealth fighters 鈥� in other words, the star of the Air Force and Navy will be on the rise.聽

Secretary Panetta warned that the array of threats is 鈥済rowing.鈥� He then offered a聽bracing litany, which included:

• Extremists who 鈥渉ave the potential to pose catastrophic threats that could directly affect [US] security and prosperity.鈥�
• An unstable North Korea that is 鈥渁ctively pursuing a nuclear weapons program,鈥� according to the document.
• China, which could 鈥渁ffect the US economy and our security in a variety of ways,鈥� the document notes.
• The strategy also ominously points to 鈥渙pportunistic aggressors鈥� who could take advantage of the reduced US force presence to make a play for power.

In a visit to the Pentagon Thursday to unveil the strategy, Mr. Obama stressed that America 鈥渋s the greatest force for freedom and security that the world has ever known. As commander in chief,鈥� he added, 鈥淚鈥檓 going to keep it that way.鈥�

The aim of the president鈥檚 strategy review, which has been taking place over the past few months, has been to decide where to accept risk 鈥� in other words, where to take troops, equipment, and research dollars away 鈥� and where to move more forces and more money to guard against likely future threats.

This will mean that US forces 鈥渨ill be smaller, and it will be leaner,鈥� said Obama. At the same time, it will 鈥渉ave the capability to fight several conflicts at the same time.鈥澛�

Yet some analysts argue that the Pentagon is magnifying some of the threats and is making planned cuts 鈥� ranging from $480 billion to as much as $1 trillion over the next decade 鈥� hesitantly.

When Secretary Panetta testified on Capitol Hill late last year, 鈥淗e was screaming that the sky was falling, and if we did anything further, the military would be reduced to a 鈥榩aper tiger,鈥� " says Joe Newman of the independent Project on Government Oversight.

That, he says, indicates a mindset 鈥渢hat anything they do would be done grudgingly.鈥�

Even in the new security document, there seems to be a hint of understated resistance to cuts, some analysts say.

For example, the strategy document announces:聽鈥淕iven that we cannot predict how the strategic environment will evolve with absolute certainty, we will maintain a broad portfolio of military capabilities. We will resist the temptation to sacrifice readiness in order to retain force structure, and will in fact, rebuild readiness in areas that, by necessity, were deemphasized over the past decade.鈥澛�

The word 鈥渢emptation鈥� could be seen as almost comic in its disingenuousness, some analysts point out, since cuts are no temptation to the Pentagon whatsoever. The pressure among big defense contractors and the lawmakers they support to maintain high defense spending is great, after all.

But the document does point to the need to 鈥渞educe the 鈥榗ost of doing business,鈥� 鈥� as well as the 鈥渞ate of growth of manpower costs.鈥� It concedes, too, that 鈥淯S forces will no longer be sized to conduct large-scale prolonged stability operations.鈥�

For his part, Panetta acknowledged Thursday that the country is at a financial 鈥渃risis point,鈥� and the call to cut military spending 鈥渃omes at a time when America confronts a serious deficit and debt problem which is itself a national security risk.鈥澛�

Yet he also issued a warning to Congress: 鈥淭he capability, readiness, and agility of the force will not be sustained if Congress fails to do its duty and the military is forced to accept far deeper cuts.鈥�

Such rhetoric is worrying, says Mr. Newman: The implication that reduced spending that could 鈥渆ncourage or embolden our enemies to attack us 鈥� that is really playing the fear card.鈥�

The nation鈥檚 top military officer attempted to strike a balanced tone. The goal of the strategy is to keep the US 鈥渋mmune from coercion,鈥� said Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin Dempsey Thursday.聽In it, he added, 鈥淲e do accept some risk, as all strategies must. Because we will be somewhat smaller, these risks will be measured in time and capacity.聽

鈥淗owever, we have to be honest 鈥� we could face even greater risks if we did not change our current approach,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not perfect. There will be people who think it goes too far. Others will say it doesn鈥檛 go far enough. That probably makes it about right.鈥�

These assurances echoed those of Obama, who in a bow to the political one-upsmanship inherent in an election season, noted that the forthcoming defense budget 鈥渨ill still be larger than it was towards the end of the Bush administration.鈥澛�

He added: 鈥淲e can keep our military strong and our nation secure with a defense budget that continues to be larger than roughly the next 10 countries combined.鈥�