Key points
- US DOD leaders directed to plan for some $290bn in cuts within the next five years: US media
- Pentagon has not directly denied the reports
- The Pentagon’s budget for 2025 is some $850 billion
WASHINGTON, United States: US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a review of the department’s 2026 budget so as to reallocate $50 billion in funds, the Pentagon said Wednesday, following reports that he had directed deep, multi-year cuts to military spending.
According to AFP, US media said Hegseth directed senior Defense Department leaders to plan for cuts that could slash the defense budget by eight percent annually, or some $290 billion within the next five years [40 per cent till 2030].
The Pentagon did not directly deny those reports, but instead described an effort aimed at removing funding from programs favoured by former president Joe Biden and using it on those advocated by his successor Donald Trump.
“Secretary Hegseth has directed a review to identify offsets from the Biden administration’s FY26 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs to align with President Trump’s America First priorities for our national defense,” Robert Salesses, performing the duties of deputy secretary of defense, said in a statement.
“The department will develop a list of potential offsets that could be used to fund these priorities, as well as to refocus the department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars. The offsets are targeted at eight percent of the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget, totaling around $50 billion, which will then be spent on programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities,” the statement said.
Generals’ jobs on the line
According to ABC News, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is considering firing or removing generals and senior officers as early as this week, according to multiple US and congressional officials.
A list has been circulated on Capitol Hill that contains generals and senior officers who could be fired or removed, the officials said.
Memo from Hegseth
A report from the Washington Post meanwhile described a memo from Hegseth — dated Tuesday — that ordered the development of plans for eight percent to be cut from the defense budget in each of the next five years, according to AFP.
Hegseth’s memo said the proposed cuts must be drawn up by February 24, and include 17 categories that Trump wants exempted, including operations at the US border with Mexico and modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, the newspaper reported.
It also called for funding for Indo-Pacific Command and Space Command, but did not do so for others such as European Command, which has led the way on US strategy throughout the war in Ukraine, the Post reported.
The Defense Department “must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth wrote in the memo, according to the Post.
“Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit,” he reportedly continued.
According to CNN, the memo, dated Tuesday, calls for military leaders to provide a proposal for eight percent in budget cuts each year for the next five years. The proposals for the massive cuts to the Pentagon’s budget of approximately $850 billion are due by February 24, less than one week after Hegseth issued the memo.
It was issued the day before President Donald Trump endorsed the House’s budget plan which includes a $100 billion increase in defense spending, suggesting a major disconnect within the administration. Hegseth himself called for an increase to the defense budget one week ago. While visiting Stuttgart, Germany, Hegseth said, “I think the US needs to spend more than the Biden administration was willing to, who historically underinvested in the capabilities of our military.”
“I ask that the Military Departments and DoD Components resource the capabilities and readiness necessary for a wartime tempo and offset those requirements with low-impact items, such as wasteful DEI and climate change programs,” Hegseth wrote in the memo. The memo, which was labeled CUI – controlled unclassified information – was sent to senior Pentagon leaders, the commanders of combatant commands and defense agencies, according to CNN.
$850bn budget
The Pentagon’s budget for 2025 is some $850 billion and the cuts described in the memo, if implemented in full, would reduce that figure by tens of billions each year to some $560 billion by the end of the five years.
Trump has vowed to slash government spending, and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — which is tasked with carrying out that effort — reportedly visited the Pentagon last week.
Hegseth signaled support for DOGE’s work at the Pentagon in a Tuesday post on X: “Let’s get to work. DOGE the waste; Double-Down on warriors,” he wrote.
Certain resistance
The proposal is certain to meet with resistance from Congressional Republicans, many of whom have called for increasing the defense budget and derided the Biden administration for only modest hikes in defense spending. Republican Sen. Roger Wicker, the chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, has called for defense spending to gradually increase to more than $1 trillion per year, according to CNN
Exemptions
According to Washington Post, Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be drawn up by Monday, according to the memo, which is dated Tuesday and includes a list of 17 categories that the Trump administration wants exempted. Among them: operations at the southern U.S. border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, and acquisition of submarines, one-way attack drones and other munitions.
