President Obama signed into law Aug. 7 a measure requiring him to provide Congress the details of the administration’s plan to implement defense-budget cuts that many experts are decrying as too draconian. Under a budget-reduction law passed by Congress earlier this year, commonly known as sequestration, the Pentagon faces $500 billion in automatic budget cuts in fiscal year 2013, which begins Oct. 1. The new Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012 calls for the White House to tell lawmakers within 30 days of enactment which defense programs would be subject to cuts, and which would be exempt.
