The memo, first reported on by the Post, was labeled “CUI” — controlled unclassified information. It was sent to senior Pentagon officials, top military commanders and the directors of numerous defense agencies. Bloomberg News reported Friday about Hegseth’s intended cuts, before the memo was distributed to Pentagon officials.
In his memo, Hegseth said the request for proposed cuts constitutes a “relook” at the Pentagon budget. The branches of service, he wrote, should fund what they need for a “wartime tempo” and offset that financially by cutting “low-impact items,” such as diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and climate change studies.
Among the 17 categories that may not be affected are operations to combat transnational criminal organizations in the Western Hemisphere, the Pentagon’s audit, and the “collaborative combat aircraft” program, which seeks to pair unmanned aircraft with those that still carry pilots. The building of “executable” warships is a priority, the memo says, although it does not specify what kind of vessels the administration favors. Hegseth’s directive also prioritizes military construction projects in the Pacific, where the Trump administration — as the Biden administration did — sees China as the United States’ chief rival.
The list is notable, too, for what it omits. While it explicitly endorses “support agency funding” for Indo-Pacific Command and Northern Command, which oversees homeland defense, it does not extend similar significance to several other major geographic commands. Those include European Command, which has had a major role in overseeing U.S. support for Ukraine during its three-year war with Russia; Central Command, which manages operations across the Middle East; and Africa Command, which directs a force of several thousand U.S. troops spread out across that continent.
The snubbing of European Command is sure to capture attention overseas, where Hegseth last week repeatedly called for NATO allies to do more to maintain their own defense. Echoing Trump, he said European countries should be spending 5 percent of their gross domestic product on defense. During the trip, he declined to answer directly when asked whether the United States should do the same.
“At a minimum, we should not go below 3 percent,” Hegseth said, speaking in Stuttgart, Germany, on Feb. 12. “That’s a view I know the president shares.” He added that “any defense secretary would be lying if they said they didn’t want more.”
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