WASHINGTON—Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel proposed a defense budget designed to turn the military's attention away from the long ground war in Afghanistan and toward emerging cyberthreats from China and increasing challenges from al Qaeda-affiliated groups in Africa.

The Pentagon road map, sure to face fierce resistance from lawmakers in both parties, calls for reducing the military's reliance on manpower-heavy troop buildups, investing instead in more agile special forces and cyberwarriors.

In unveiling the first Pentagon budget to bear his imprint, Mr. Hagel took aim at rising personnel costs and revived an earlier plan to shrink the Army to its smallest force levels since World War II. He proposed cuts in major equipment programs including the Navy's littoral combat ship and the Air Force A-10 "Warthog" jet.

Mr. Hagel proposes injecting more money instead into changes that defense officials say would make for a military that is better ready to respond to changing threats.

Mr. Hagel wants to pare back the size of the active-duty military by 13% and the reserves by 5% in coming years. But he would boost the size of Special Operations forces by nearly 6% by adding about 3,000 personnel to the kinds of teams that killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan.

"This is a time for reality," Mr. Hagel said Monday in unveiling the $496 billion budget plan. "This is a budget that recognizes the reality of the magnitude of our fiscal challenges, the dangerous world we live in, and the American military's unique and indispensable role in the security of this country and in today's volatile world."

Mr. Hagel, in essence, presented two spending plans: one that assumes across-the-board cuts known as sequestration will continue, and one that adjusts for a sequestration rollback.

For instance, Mr. Hagel's budget would cut the Army to 440,000 or 450,000 troops from the current 520,000. If sequestration remained, he said, the Army would shrink to 420,000. Similarly, continued sequestration funding would result in the elimination of an aircraft carrier and a reduction in the Marine Corps and other cuts.

Congress has final say on the Pentagon budget and must approve most of its recommendations. Complete details of the proposed budget will be part of the spending plan that President Barack Obama unveils next week.

But the hurdles confronting Mr. Hagel's budget were clear Monday, as major elements of the plan drew opposition from governors, lawmakers and veterans groups. Rep. Randy Forbes (R., Va.), a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, said that based on the latest budget outline, "It is very difficult for anyone to say with a straight face this budget will defend this country."

Mr. Forbes said the budget would dangerously crimp the Navy, which has a big presence in southeastern Virginia, where his district is located. "We have to increase the number of ships we have, but we are decreasing them," he said. "Strategically it is a very concerning situation."

Veterans groups and their congressional supporters are preparing to battle Mr. Hagel's call to slow spending on military benefits that consume a significant and growing portion of the Pentagon budget.

"Here we go again," said Paul Rieckhoff of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. "Washington is trying to balance the budget on the backs of those who have suffered the most."

Governors worried about Mr. Hagel's plans to trim the size of National Guard and reserve units and to re-examine the need for many bases nationwide.

"To have to manage these sequester cuts on the backs of our National Guard will be a challenge," said Martin O'Malley, the Democratic governor of Maryland. Republican Gov. Mary Fallin of Oklahoma, whose state faced a wave of deadly tornadoes in 2013, said the cuts would "weaken" governors' ability to respond to natural disasters.

But Pentagon officials said Monday that if Congress doesn't make those cuts, other spending would have to be curtailed.

"Changes in force structure and infrastructure and institutional reform can be unpleasant and unpopular, and we know that," said a senior military official. "It is hard to cut this amount of money out of anything and expect people to cheer about it."

The Pentagon has threatened deep and unpopular cuts before, and that strategy has been at least partially successful. While the spending cuts remain on the books, the Pentagon has yet to face the full impact of reductions under sequestration.

Over objections from the National Guard, Mr. Hagel is proposing transferring all of the Apache attack helicopters from the reserve force to the active-duty Army. The Pentagon will also pursue a range of options to slow the growth of pay and benefits, measures opposed by many veterans groups.

Mr. Hagel spoke critically about the Navy's new littoral combat ship, siding with critics who have questioned the capabilities of the ship and its ability to survive modern firefights.

"We need to closely examine whether the LCS has the protection and firepower to survive against a more advanced military adversary and emerging new technologies, especially in the Asia Pacific," Mr. Hagel said.

The Pentagon plan includes money for a new frigate design, a vessel that could prove more versatile than the littoral combat ship in the large ocean expanses of the Pacific.

Defense officials said if the money is allocated to design a new frigate, the Navy in coming years could choose between building a modified, up-gunned littoral ship and the new frigate.

Read the article at the Wall Street Journal: http://ow.ly/tZn91 
Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Stuart Miles