Hegseth Orders $50 Billion in Spending Cuts Over Each of the Next Five Years

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is ordering sweeping budget cuts of 8% over each of the next five years, according to a memo that the Washington Post obtained. The cuts amount to around $50 billion a year.

The memo, which is dated Tuesday, includes 17 categories that the administration wants exempted from the cuts. The exempt categories include border security, missile defense, nuclear weapons modernization, and submarine acquisition.

“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.

Robert G. Salesses, a senior Pentagon official, said in a statement that the money saved could be "realigned" to pay for other Trump defense priorities, including the “Iron Dome for America,” that Trump wants as a shield against missile attack.

Congress will be tough to convince that the cuts are warranted. There's a bipartisan consensus that more defense spending is needed to deter China, especially in the Asia-Pacific theater. 

While the brass chews on where to cut, the Department of Government Efficiency is about to make its presence felt at the Pentagon. On the block are thousands of probationary civilian employees who are likely not long for their jobs.

“It is not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission-critical,” said John Ullyot, a Pentagon spokesman. 

Washington Post:

Hegseth, in his Tuesday memo, sought to cast the proposed cuts as an extension of Trump’s “peace through strength” policies, despite a reversal from the president’s past practice of expanding military spending and touting those efforts. Republicans, including Hegseth, have spent years criticizing Democrats as not spending enough on national defense.

“The time for preparation is over — we must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth wrote in the memo. “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.”

There's no lack of waste and mismanagement at the Pentagon. "Between 1984 and 1985 alone," Matthew Petti of Reason.com writes, "the Navy had lost track of $394 million in parts."

But Hegseth is talking about cutting $250 billion over the next five years. That's an extraordinary amount of money that will have to come from weapons programs, readiness programs, and perhaps even pensions and healthcare for the troops.

The Pentagon is going to have to make those cuts using far fewer civilian employees.

New York Times:

The Pentagon is also bracing for proposed cuts to its work force, and has already been asked to hand over to the Trump administration lists of probationary employees who could be laid off.

A senior military official said on Wednesday that Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency had expressed interest in moving full-time Pentagon employees to contract positions so that they would be easier to fire.

On social media on Tuesday, Mr. Hegseth shared a post from Mr. Musk’s team saying that it was looking forward to eliminating “waste, fraud and abuse.”

“DOGE the waste; Double-Down on warriors,” Mr. Hegseth wrote.

I am skeptical that Hegseth will realize 20% of that $250 billion in cuts over five years. Congress will have a considerable say in those cuts, and in an atmosphere like we have today, the most powerful and most senior members will carve out exemptions for programs that benefit their state or district.