Secretary of State Kerry issued a statement yesterday denouncing Boko Haram’s attacks in Nigeria and expressing US support for Nigerian authorities in their battle against the group; the US is providing counterterrorism assistance, he noted. Secretary of Defense Hagel is announcing proposed cuts to the Pentagon budget that will involve reducing the army to some 440,000 or 450,000 from a wartime high of 570,000, and scrapping Air Force A-10 attack jets, among other programs.
