IT’S ON – As the debt-reduction supercommittee began its work Thursday, HASC Republicans called former members of the Joint Chiefs out of retirement to help lobby against deeper defense spending cuts and one of the super-panel’s top GOP members threatened to resign if it discusses new cuts to DOD’s budget.

SEN. JON KYL, who said he’s “off the committee” if more defense cuts are discussed, also said he’d try to rewrite the law to stop automatic reductions in DOD spending if the supercommittee fails to come to agreement on $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion in savings over 10 years – a scenario Panetta has called “completely unacceptable.” Said Kyl: “I would do my best to see to it that it never took effect.” Read more here: http://politi.co/qJzWeg

AT THE HASC HEARING, former Vice Chairman Giambastiani said the automatic cuts would be like “performing brain surgery with a chainsaw.”

FORMER CHAIRMAN PACE, after admitting that he was wrong to oppose increases in troop strength for the Army and Marines in 2004, now says it would be the last place he’d cut. He and the man he succeeded as chairman, Myers, along with Giambastiani, all said potential cuts in troop levels would hurt efforts to slow the pace of deployments.

THEY ALSO WARNED LAWMAKERS TO TAKE CARE with possible cuts in benefits, with Giambastiani saying that’s what the troops ask about the most.

BACK TO THE BUDGET – SAC has allocated $513 billion for DOD base spending for fiscal 2012 – the same as enacted in fiscal 2011 and $26 billion less than Obama requested. The allocation clears the way for the panel to mark up its spending bill and send it to the Senate floor. “This is roughly in line with the proportional cuts the department expected,” Press Secretary George Little said.

ONE OF THE BIG TARGETS FOR BUDGET CUTS IS THE ARMY. Odierno told reporters Thursday he expects it will likely shrink below the 520,000 troops called for in current Pentagon plans, though Army leaders had hoped to hold the line there. “We have to be careful,” he said, echoing past concerns about shrinking too far too fast. “We have to look at this from a strategy viewpoint and what is expected from us. If we make an egregious mistake now we will pay for it later.” http://wapo.st/pgUaX7

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