Budget Impact on U.S. Troops Not Ruled Out

BRUSSELS —  Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci refused Monday to rule out the possibility that budget reductions in Washington could bring reductions in the more than 300,000 American troops stationed in Western Europe.

“I’m not ruling out anything,” Carlucci said en route to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization meeting here.

“If there is a way we can do the job better with a smaller, modernized force, or through better integration with our NATO colleagues . . . then we will look at it,” Carlucci told reporters.

Carlucci said that major troop reductions would send a bad signal to allies and the Soviet Union. But he said that the United States and other countries with budget problems must face that possibility.