Joe Biden said that the military has asked for a smaller, leaner army, implicitly justifying the sequestration.
Many military and congressional leaders, however, have registered their opposition to the military cuts in the sequestration, with one saying it would "hollow" the military.
The Foreign Policy Initiative compiled a list of legislative, executive, and military leaders, who have opposed the sequestration cuts.
Here are three highlights from military leaders:
General Raymond Odierno (Chief of Staff, U.S. Army): "With sequestration, my assessment is that the Nation would incur an unacceptable level of strategic and operational risk." (November 2, 2011)
General James F. Amos (Commandant, U.S. Marine Corps): "We as a nation don’t even know, or have not got a sense of appreciation for, the impact that sequestration’s going to have on the Department of Defense… I don’t think we understand the magnitude of the impact that sequestration would have." (November 14, 2011)
General Jonathan Greenert (Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy): "…[I]n my view sequestration will cause irreversible damage. It will hollow the military and we will be out of balance in manpower, both military and civilian, procurement and modernization. We are a capital intensive force and going in and summarily reducing procurement accounts here and there will upset quite a bit of our industrial base, which in my view, if we get into sequestration, might be irrecoverable." (November 2, 2011)
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta expressed exasperation at the looming prospect of the sequestration cuts, saying, "I'll take whatever the hell kind of deal they can make now with sequestration."