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2025-02-21 Home Front: Politix
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Pete Hegseth orders DOGE-inspired $50 billion in Pentagon cuts
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[Daily Mail, where America gets its news] Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered his agency to work up a plan by Monday to slash 8 percent from the budget in each of the next five years – or $50 billion.
The cuts are styled after the actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been reviewing a slew of federal government spending under the leadership of Elon Musk.
The billionaire Tesla and SpaceX boss has already completely dismantled USAID and has put FEMA under notice that they could be the next aid agency to go. He also has cut billions in spending on programs that do not align with President Donald Trump's priorities to crack down on illegal immigration and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.
The new Pentagon memo outlines a way forward to bring the DoD into compliance with Trump's executive orders after DOGE staffers were on site earlier this week collecting a list of those employees in their probationary periods.
DOGE is overseeing the Trump administration's order to fire thousands of the Pentagon's probation workers, which it started to carry out earlier this week.
The new cuts are entirely separate from the firings.
The target will be to scale back military programs created under President Joe Biden's administration that focused on climate change and energy policies among other 'woke' programs, Pentagon spokesman Robert Salesses said in a statement.
NOT Mission-Critical
Other areas considered to be unnecessary spending will be cut, like DEI military practices and policies.
But Trump's plans for a so-called 'Iron Dome for America' would still forge forward as he seeks to create a missile defense system. Some of the money that is saved from cuts to other areas could be used towards replicating Israel's Iron Dome on a larger scale for the U.S.
Hegseth has stressed the importance of the U.S. reviving 'the warrior ethos' to the military.
'The time for preparation is over,' Hegseth wrote in his memo to the Defense Department. 'We must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence.'
The former Fox News host continued: 'Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit.'
Salesses said in a statement on the review of the Pentagon budget that the audit will help 'ensure we are making the best use of the taxpayers' dollars.'
He continued: 'The Department will develop a list of potential offsets that could be used to fund these priorities, as well as to refocus the Department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars.'
'The offsets are targeted at 8 percent of the Biden Administration's FY26 budget, totaling around $50 billion, which will then be spent on programs aligned with President Trump's priorities,' Salesses concluded.
The audit comes as Trump vows to also target the Pentagon amid a slew of cuts at other agencies, including canceling billions of contracts at the Department of Education and National Institutes of Health. 
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Posted by Skidmark 2025-02-21 01:22||
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Posted by Procopius2k 2025-02-21 08:08||
2025-02-21 08:08||
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