The Donald Trump administration has instructed the US Department of Defense to develop a plan to cut the defense budget by 8% annually over the next five years. This is reported by The Washington Post , citing a memorandum from Hagesse and officials familiar with the matter, UNN reports.
Details
It is noted that Hegseth ordered to prepare the proposed cuts by February 24. The list of categories that the Trump administration wants to eliminate includes 17 items, including operations on the southern border of the United States, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, and the purchase of attack drones and other munitions.
In particular, the document calls for continued funding for the "support agency" of several major regional headquarters, including the Indian Pacific Command, the Northern Command, and the Space Command. At the same time, the list does not include the European Command, the Central Command, which controls operations in the Middle East, and the African Command.
It is noted that the Pentagon's budget for 2025 is about $850 billion. It is expected that the budget reduction initiative will face domestic resistance and sharp bipartisan opposition in Congress.
Recall
In late January, the US Secretary of Defense temporarily halted new contracts with the Army to reassess equality provisions. The decision does not affect existing contracts.