Hegseth’s order calls for an 8% cut to the Pentagon budget each year for five years. The Pentagon budget for 2025 is about $850 billion, and an 8% cut for five years would bring it down to roughly $560 billion, a reduction of $290 billion.
Hegseth wants the proposed cuts to be drawn up by February 24, and the memo included a list of 17 categories that would be exempt from the spending cuts.
The Post report said the exemptions include operations at the southern border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, and acquisition of submarines, one-way attack drones, and other munitions.
Combined, the two efforts amount to a striking assault on the government’s largest department, which has more than 900,000 civilian employees, many of them military veterans. Probationary employment in the Defense Department can last from one to three years, depending on the position, and can include employees who have shifted from one job to another.
The European Command is not considered a priority. China is the main enemy now. Focus shifts to Indo-Pacific Command.
Yup: the troop deployed in Europe are needed to invade Panama. Most of the rest will probably be taken out of enlistment and retention bonuses, and VA benefits like educational assistance and health care.
lessee…let’s test that theory:
Googly AI answer:
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) requested a budget of $369.3 billion for fiscal year 2025. This is a $32.9 billion increase from the previous year’s budget.
There you have it, take all the cut out of the VA. Technically, the VA is a separate department from DoD, but has a detail like that stopped “them” before?
Palantir took quite a hit today. On CNBC the defense department cuts were cited as a cause. (Also an end to momentum investing.) Very high PE. Attractive revenue growth (so far) but not translating to earnings. People taking profits.
As noted before, the argument is not about the spending. The argument is always about who benefits from the spending. I see lots of goodies for defense contractors on the list in the article. Wonder where the money will be taken away? I’m thinking spending on things for the benefit of the enlisted people.
By the way, there are reports the SecDef has compiled a list of flag rank officers to be “fired”. Two of the names on that list are members of the JCS. Any guesses who the two are?
Saw a chart the other day showing the USA could cut defense spending in half and still out spend the next closest nation by about 20-30% (China). Of course 2 caveats. 1 - is the data true. 2 - we actually spend all the money appropriately instead of on $500 hammers.
Does the data account for comparable stuff being cheaper in China? That being said, the amount of nonsense that goes on in procurement is epic, compared to only 40 years ago.
