Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected this week to reveal just how the military will go about cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in spending over a 10-year period.

Pentagon officials have for months debated ways in which the military can make significant cuts without jeopardizing national security. Some of them have argued it’s not possible, given the magnitude of the cuts they’re being told to make.

But Sen. Daniel Inouye, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, says that the situation is not as dire as military leaders have suggested. Here’s how Inouye put it in a November interview with Civil Beat: 

“Did we emasculate them? No,” Inouye said. “Did we do anything to cut their funds so that they can’t operate? No.”

Read more about military cuts and what to expect from Panetta in coverage from The New York Times.