Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the agency to develop plans to slash 8% from the Department of Defense budget in each of the next five years to align with President Donald Trump’s priorities, specifically to achieve peace through strength, officials said.
Hegseth is asking for plans in an effort to identify offsets from the Biden administration’s fiscal year 2026 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs, a statement from Pentagon spokesman Robert Salesses said.
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Aerial view of the Pentagon. The Defense Department is expected to enact layoffs after members of DOGE arrived, according to a Washington Post report. (DANIEL SLIM/AFP via Getty Images)
Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be drawn up by Monday, according to a memo.
“The time for preparation is over. We must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth wrote. “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.”
The Washington Post first reported the memo. Fox News Digital has reached out to the Pentagon.
Salesses said that the money saved could be used to realign the defense agency towards Trump’s new priorities, including the “Iron Dome for America,” his catchphrase for a missile defense system.
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U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth delivers remarks during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the Pentagon on Feb. 5 in Arlington, Va. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
“The Department of Defense is conducting this review to ensure we are making the best use of the taxpayers’ dollars in a way that delivers on President Trump’s defense priorities efficiently and effectively,” he said.
“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,” he added. “The offsets are targeted at 8% 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 cuts will allow the Defense Department to halt all unnecessary spending that set the military back under the Biden administration through climate change and other “woke” programs, Salesses said. Hegseth has stressed that the U.S. aims to “revive the warrior ethos.”
Pentagon schools accused of woke indoctrination (MARTIN BUREAU/AFP via Getty Image | PAUL J. RICHARDS/AFP via Getty Images)
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The request for cuts comes amid a separate order from the Trump administration to fire thousands of probationary DOD employees, which is being overseen by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
