Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum Thursday outlining $5.1 billion in cuts to Department of Defense spending through terminated contracts.
The Pentagon leader said the contracts amounted to “nonessential spending” on third-party consultants for services “more efficiently” performed by the department’s workforce using existing resources.
“We need this money to spend on better health care for our warfighters and their families, instead of $500 an hour business process consultant,” he said in a statement announcing the cuts. “That’s a lot of consulting.”
Hegseth said a Defense Health Agency contract for consulting services from Accenture, Deloitte, Booz Allen and other firms was discontinued alongside an Air Force contract with Accenture to resell third-party enterprise cloud IT services.
A Navy contract for business process consulting services was also eliminated as was a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s contract for IT helpdesk services was canceled, according to Hegseth.
He added that the department is also slashing 11 contracts related to diversity, equity and inclusion, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic and related “nonessential activities.”
“If you’re keeping score at home, today’s cuts bring our running total to nearly $6 billion in wasteful spending over the first six weeks of the Department of Government Efficiency effort here at the Defense Department,” Hegseth said.
The moves come after the Defense secretary cut $70 million in funding at three colleges in the past weeks in the Trump administration’s overhaul of federal spending.
Pentagon officials are also seeking to reduce the department’s workforce by 5 percent to 8 percent of its civilian employees over the next several months totaling 50,000 to 60,000 jobs.
Source: The Hill
Trump promises $1 trillion in defense spending for next year
President Donald Trump this week unveiled plans for a $1 trillion defense budget next year, a massive increase that he claimed will provide the country with unmatched military strength for years to come.
During a press event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday, Trump offered the outline for total defense spending in the fiscal 2026 budget as part of his larger plans for U.S. national security.
“We’re going to be approving a budget, and I’m proud to say, actually, the biggest one we’ve ever done for the military,” he said. “$1 trillion. Nobody has seen anything like it.
“We are getting a very, very powerful military. We have things under order now.”
A $1 trillion defense budget would represent an increase of nearly 12% from current fiscal year spending levels. Trump indicated that at least some of the new spending would come from savings found by cuts ordered by the Department of Government Efficiency, although he did not specify any accounts.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised the news on social media Monday evening.
“Coming soon: the first Trillion dollar Department of Defense budget,” he wrote. “President Donald Trump is rebuilding our military — and fast.”
Hegseth said that despite the significant increase, all taxpayer money for his department will be spent “wisely, on lethality and readiness.”
White House officials are expected to reveal their full budget plan for fiscal 2026 — which begins on Oct. 1 — later this spring.
Republicans in Congress have pushed for years for boosts in defense spending to counter growing overseas threats and operational demands.
But they have also called for cuts in overall government spending to balance the federal budget, and for tax relief for some Americans. Increasing defense spending will complicate those calculations, and likely add to the federal deficit unless sharp cuts are made to non-defense programs.
Democratic lawmakers have objected to those kinds of cuts, but have limited options in blocking budget moves because they are in the minority in both the House and Senate.
Even with the increase, an American military budget of $1 trillion still would not match Trump’s stated goal of all NATO countries spending 5% of their gross domestic product on defense.
Trump said the extra money for defense will allow the country to purchase new equipment and capabilities needed for the future.
“We’ve never had the kind of aircraft, the kind of missiles, anything that we have ordered,” he said. “And it’s in many ways too bad that we have to do it because, hopefully, we’re not going to have to use it.”
Source: Military.com
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