Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is ordering military service chiefs to reduce the use of a controversial policy intended to keep troops in war zones beyond the end of their original commitments, according to a document obtained by The Hill.

In a memo sent to the service chiefs, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and undersecretaries of defense, Gates asked to see plans to minimize the use of the so-called stop-loss policy for active duty and reserve components by the end of next month.

Gates’s directive comes at a time when the White House’s plan to increase the number of troops in Iraq by 21,500 is coming under intense criticism on both sides of the aisle, in part because it would extend the tours of duty of troops already on the ground and trigger stop-loss orders.

“They-re extending and stop-lossing people in the country [Iraq] themselves,” Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the House defense appropriations committee and an outspoken critic of the White House’s Iraq strategy, said on MSNBC earlier this month. “And it is very unpopular, even with the troops themselves, when they don-t understand the mission.”

Several House Republicans sent a letter to Gates last week asking that members of the National Guard and Reserve not be kept on active duty beyond their original commitment.

Read more at the Hill