The U.S. strategic review security interests will also be emphasis on the U.S. presence in Asia, generally with less attention to Europe, Africa and Latin America along with slower growth in the Pentagon budget, officials said.
Although the specific budget cuts and troop reduction figures are not set to be announced on Thursday, officials confirmed to Reuters that amount to a decrease of 10.15 percent in the number of Army and Marine Corps over the next decade, resulting in tens of thousands of soldiers.
The most profound change in the strategic review is an acceptance that the U.S. military budget even more the world cannot afford to keep troops on the ground to fight a war over a large scale at a time. This is a step away from the "win-win" that has dominated the Pentagon's funding decisions for decades.
The move to a situation "win-spoil" the plan, allowing U.S. forces to fight a campaign stop or block another conflict, including the recognition that the White House, we must increase public support for greater involvement and attract more strongly in the national reserve and Guard troops when necessary.
"As Libya showed, that does not necessarily have to have boots on the ground all the time," an official said, explaining the point of view of the White House.
"We are refining our strategy to something that is more realistic," he added.
President Barack Obama will help initiate the review of U.S. at the Pentagon on Thursday and is expected to note that the size of the U.S. military budget has grown and will continue to grow but at a slower pace.
Obama has moved to reduce U.S. commitments foreign land, ending the war in Iraq, observing the troops in Afghanistan and ruling out anything, but the air force and intelligence to the rebels who overthrew the Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
The number of U.S. military personnel formally assigned to bases in Europe - including many troops in Afghanistan - is also set to fall sharply, administration sources said, while stressing that the final numbers have not been established.
"Basically disappear"
"When some army brigades begin leaving Afghanistan, which is basically going to disappear," said an official.
Many top U.S. military members in NATO also face tough cuts in the defense budget as a result of fiscal tensions gripping the European Union.
The president could face criticism from defense hawks in Congress, the Republican opposition that many of them, questioning their commitment to the U.S. military.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Gen. Martin Dempsey, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Armed Forces are set out in a press conference to flesh out the contents of the review after Obama's remarks, which also are expected to stress the need to control spending in a time when U.S. budgets are tight.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said the defense cuts derived from an August agreement debt ceiling - worth about $ 489 billion in 10 years - should be taken with care.
"The president made it clear to his team that we have to have a look at our defense spending to ensure that spending cuts are surgical and our priorities are met," Carney told reporters this week.
The military may be forced to cut another $ 600 billion in defense spending over 10 years, unless Congress takes action to stop a second round of cuts mandated by the agreement of August.
Panetta spent much of Wednesday afternoon key information from congressional leaders on the strategic review. Representative Adam Smith, the top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, said that after talking with Panetta that the test was an attempt to evaluate U.S. strategic priorities for the future rather than identify specific budget cuts.
Maintain a significant presence in the Middle East and Asia, especially to counter Iran and North Korea, was a high priority in the review, said Smith. This was to ensure that the military are sufficiently addressed to ensure the effectiveness of the volunteer force. Reductions in the size of U.S. forces in Europe and elsewhere are a real possibility, he said.
Pentagon spokesman Captain John Kirby, told the military ending a decade of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, we must re-evaluate the role of U.S. forces abroad.
"From an operational perspective is ... a time to take a look at what the U.S. military is doing and what we should be doing or should be prepared to do during the next 10 to 15 years" said Wednesday.
"So, yes, budget cuts are certainly a driver here, but frankly so are current events," said Kirby
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