The directive, detailed in a memo from Tuesday, exempts several programs, including the president's expanded military mission along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered senior leadership at the Pentagon and across the U.S. military to develop plans to cut 8 percent of the defense budget over the next five years, according to a memo obtained by The Washington Post and officials familiar with the matter — a sweeping proposal sure to face domestic resistance and fierce bipartisan opposition in Congress.
Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be prepared by Feb. 24, according to a memorandum that lists 17 categories the Trump administration wants to eliminate, including operations on the U.S. southern border, nuclear weapons and missile defense modernization, and unilateral acquisitions of strike drones and other munitions.
The Pentagon’s budget for 2025 is about $850 billion, with Capitol Hill acknowledging that significant spending is needed to deter threats, including from China and Russia. If passed in full, the proposed cuts would include tens of billions of dollars over the next five years.
The memo calls for continued funding for “support agencies” for several major regional headquarters, including Indo-Pacific Command, Northern Command, and Space Command. Notably absent from the list are European Command, which played a leading role in implementing U.S. strategy during the war in Ukraine; Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East; and Africa Command, which manages the several thousand troops the Pentagon has deployed across the continent.
“President Trump’s charge to the Department of Defense is clear: achieve peace through force,” Hegseth wrote in a memo dated Tuesday. “The time for preparation is over—we must act urgently to revive the warrior spirit, rebuild our military, and restore deterrence. Our budget will provide the fighting force we need, end unnecessary defense spending, eliminate excessive bureaucracy, and drive effective reforms, including progress on auditing.”
John Ulliot, a spokesman for Hegseth, said the Pentagon would soon have a response to questions about the secretary's directive.
The proposed cuts, if enacted, would mark the biggest attempt to rein in Pentagon spending since 2013, when congressionally approved budget cuts known as sequestration took effect. The cuts were seen as a crisis in the Pentagon at the time and have become increasingly unpopular among Republicans and Democrats alike as their impact on the military's ability to train and prepare for war has become apparent.
Bloomberg reported on Friday about Hegseth's planned cuts before the memo was distributed to Pentagon officials.