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Defense Secretary Pete Hegses is trying to capitalize on two seemingly difficult troops: the Pentagon and government efficiency. First, he ordered the military to redistribut 8% of the budget from low priority items like climate change, making it more compatible with President Donald Trump's “America First” program. When implemented, the budget shift will result in a 40% adjustment to fund Trump's priorities for DOD's standard five-year defense program.
Hegseth emphasized that his order was “not a cut.” Instead, he “reinvests existing funds again and reinvests them in the construction of the military.” Second, Hegses admits that Doge officially entered the pentagon. He explained that he will be “incorporated” into DOD's efforts “to find fraud, waste and abuse at the federal government's largest discretionary budget.”
Hegseth is exploiting the power of Doge to implement much-needed, comprehensive reforms to the Pentagon budget. His real location plan assumes that savings from useless and unnecessary programs should be large enough to put pressure on them for more harmful reductions. His success depends on whether Doge accepts Hegseth's 8% budget relocation plan, or whether he demands a pentagonal blanket reduction. President Trump has shown that his Cabinet secretary will allow Doge to take the first crack in the cut, but he will be a vital player for Hegseth's Gambit.
Secretary Hegses says DOD doesn't do “climate change crap”
Heggs' position is similar to another reform-oriented Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates. Fifteen years ago, Gates warned that “defense spending erupters” were over after a decade of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With budget cuts looming, Gates has come to an agreement with President Barack Obama that the efficiency and overhead savings he finds can be reinvested into structure and modernization priorities rather than using them as excuses to reduce the Pentagon's budget.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegses is a member of the PT in the 10th Special Forces Group (Skyborne), the 1st Battalion, a US Army Special Forces battalion based in Stuttgart, Germany. (defsec hegseth of x)
Gates found $100 billion in savings by cutting Pentagon contractors, canceling weapons programs such as Marine Corps' expedition combat vehicles and closing excess organizations like the Joint Army, but Obama made a promise. He argued that true growth in the defense budget could not be justified amid the debt crisis. Nine months later, Obama signed the Budget Control Act, with disastrous consequences for his defense. Ten years after the BCA was enacted, the Pentagon budget was cut by 14%, bringing its total to nearly $1 trillion.
Trump decides whether his team will repeat the same mistakes as Obama and the Gate. Unlike in 2010, the interests are even higher, with Washington having a consensus that America needs military accumulation to stand up to unprecedented military modernization. Over the past two years, the PRC has seen its defense budget increase by 15%. This year, growth in China's defense budget will outweigh China's economic growth and reveal where XI's real priorities lie.
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Congress appears to be playing a role in asking for help. The ongoing settlement process at Capitol Hill could add $150 billion in defence dollars over the next decade. The settlement is an opportunity to move beyond the perennial dysfunctional annual defense approval and spending bill.
The multi-year funding measure allows the Pentagon to recapitulate industrial bases that have not seen upgrades since the 1980s.
Defence funding for settlement measures is particularly important for these priorities. Because, as Hegseth warned, the president's own budget demands could not bring about a significant increase in defense. That reality explains why Hegses said the Pentagon might have to make it to the resources already available, and “make sure all the dollars go further.” Hegseth's order could re-allocate at least $500 billion this fiscal year and nearly $250 billion over the life of the defense program.
Internal efficiency along the line, combining what Gates discovered more than a decade ago with capital gains from settlement measurements, can have transformative results. Industrial bases can now be recapitulated and catalyzed other funding underprivileged priorities, such as ammunition production, which is important for the Chinese battle. A predictable flow of capital will go a long way in achieving the Trump administration's priorities, such as expanding shipbuilding capabilities and expanding Golden Dome National Missile Defense System.
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“We will once again build the most powerful army the world has seen, measuring success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars we end,” Trump said.
Whether Doge will alienate Dod's excessive waste and inefficiency, or an anvil destroying the Pentagon program, is good and bad, in the hands of President Trump. He can prevent mistakes from his predecessors, allowing the pentagon to reinvest in itself and carry out the goals outlined on his platform.
Michael Stanton is a research assistant at the Reagan Institute.
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