The U.S. Army is planning to cut 4,350 soldiers from installations in Georgia fewer than 1,000 from Fort Stewart as part of efforts to reduce its size, according to a press release from Georgia Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-GA.

Stars and Stripes reported that the official Army announcement on the reductions is not coming until Thursday, but Isakson spoke to Secretary of the Army John McHugh on the phone today and learned about the reductions in Georgia.

According to the release, McHugh said Fort Stewart will lose 950 soldiers and Fort Benning will lose 3,400 soldiers.

The cuts are “part of the Department of Defense’s plans to reduce the Army nationwide by 40,000 soldiers, from the current level of 490,000 to 450,000 by the end of 2017,” according to the release.

“I am demanding answers from the Department of Defense on how they are justifying these troop cuts in Georgia,” Isakson is quoted in the release.

He goes on to say, “We cannot afford to reduce our military readiness at a time when the threats to our security here at home and throughout the world are growing at an alarming rate. Instead, we should be using our military to send a clear signal to the rest of the world that America has no intention of standing down in the fight against the threat of terrorism worldwide.”

Additional cuts to the number of civilian personnel at military bases are expected but have not yet been announced by the Department of Defense, the release stated.

Representative Buddy Carter, R-GA 1st, released a statement this afternoon, calling the Army reductions “short sighted.”

“With global instability on the rise and increasingly unpredictable threats, this draw down is short sighted," said Carter.  "Cutting troops at this time flies in the face of reality. I believe the number one responsibility of the federal government is to provide a strong national defense and I am increasingly concerned that we will render ourselves unable to respond to the threats we face around the globe."