To the editor:

There is a growing movement in the country to cut federal spending. Here is a way.

American taxpayers have spent trillions over the past seven decades protecting other people. Our troops have been in Europe and Japan since the 1940s and in Korea since 1953. These countries have more than ample economies to pay for their own defense.

It is past time that we bring our troops home and tell the Europeans, Japanese and Koreans to “defend yourselves.”

TOM HANIFY

Clinton