The Hegseth budget: defense secretary’s $1.5tn ask reveals military-industrial chaos

The Pentagon head proposed a 44% increase – to second world war levels – while ‘woke’ programs are gutted

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When the ‘“department of government efficiency” was raging unchecked through the federal government in February 2025, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered his subordinates to find cuts of 8% a year for the next five years, theoretically trimming a total of $340m from the Pentagon budget.

The disclosure briefly sent Palantir and defense stocks tanking – though soon the plan evaporated, as if it never existed.
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