Hegseth orders $50 billion of defense budget redirected from Biden to Trump priorities
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Pentagon to cut 8% of next year's defense budget – around $50 billion – from "low-impact and low-priority" Biden-era programs to redirect the funds towards President Donald Trump’s "America First priorities."
The military will put together a list of programs that could be axed to fund Trump's plans, including "so-called 'climate change' and other woke programs, as well as excessive bureaucracy," according to a statement from acting Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Salesses on Wednesday night.
It was unclear from the statement what new programs would receive the money, but it said Trump's priorities included "securing our borders, building the Iron Dome for America, and ending radical and wasteful government DEI programs and preferencing."
Redirecting the funds would "refocus the Department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars," according to the statement.
As head of the military, Hegseth has sworn he will eradicate diversity initiatives at the Pentagon, which he has said draw energy from its battle readiness and "warrior ethos." Earlier this month, he restricted transgender people from enlisting eliminated identity month celebrations like Black History Month at the Defense Department.
Hegseth says DOGE cuts wouldn't touch military 'capabilities'
The Pentagon has an $850 billion annual budget, the largest of any federal department. Although Hegseth said Elon Musk and his federal agency-cutting team were "welcome" at the Pentagon – military services handed over lists of their probationary employees for expected layoffs – he said last week any cuts to defense spending would not be "to the detriment of American operational or tactical capabilities."
Trump deployed an additional 1,500 active duty soldiers and Marines to the southern border to add to the 2,500 already stationed there and sent four military aircraft to El Paso and San Diego to carry out deportations.
In an executive order last month, he laid out a plan for an "Iron Dome for America" – the development of a more robust missile defense system. It is unclear how much it would add on top of the roughly $10 billion marked out for the agency tasked with missile defense every year.