i'm vago muradian. the association of the united states army's annual meeting kicks off this week amid pressure to slash spending on conferences. we'll talk about the impact of tighter government travel and conference rules. plus, a look at a compact new realtime facial recognition system that troops can use on the move. but first, the pentagon's new cyber strategy unveiled this month by defense secretary leon panetta makes it clear the u.s. military will take preemptive action if it detects a potential cyber attack that would kill americans or devastate american infrastructure. the aim is to make the threat of counterattack a powerful deterrent. is this the right cyber strategy for america? here with answers is irving la- chow the director of the program on u.s. national security in the information age at the the cent for new american security. irving welcome to the program. >> thank you very much. >> what's the importance of this statement especially at this time? >> i think secretary panetta had two

i'm vago muradian. for more than a dozen years u.s. army soldiers have been in combat in iraq, afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world stressing the force more severely than at any period since the vietnam war. while the army has ended operations in iraq soldiers still constitute the bulk of the international coalition doing the fighting and supporting in afghanistan and will continue to do so until the mission there ends in 2014. plus, the army is looking past the decade of war to prepare the force for future challenges including refocusing on the pacific. that will mean a change in equipment, personnel, and manpower levels as the service retools from having spent years fighting in the middle east and central asia. engineering that change in an era of tight resources is the army's 38th chief of staff, general ray odierno who joins us from the association of the annual conference and trade show. sir, welcome back. >> thank you. >> i wanted to start off. sequestration is the top issue in washington.

i'm vago muradian.mproving battlefield communications remain a top army priority, we get an update from top radio makers. plus, how 55 serce organizations are coming together to support veterans in 200 cities across america. but first, reinvigorating nuclear security has been a top air force priority since a b-52 bomber mistakenly fitted with nuclear weapons flew across the country. a once rigorous system has grown lapse. meanwhile, the air force is modernizing by keeping with a 2010 obama plan by keeping with a smaller arsenal. in 2010, a nuclear treaty limited with russia limited the number of nuclear weapons. i recently spoke with the chief of staff, and asked him what looming automatic budget cuts would mean for the nuclear enterprise. >> well the nuclear enterprise is the perfection is standard. we look very hard at any serious cut that would jeopardize nuclear assurety. it does loom. it is equivalent to a meat axe. it is not a surgical strike of our dollars, and it has a serious effect. we cannot