White House eyes annual 8% cut to defense budget through 2030

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered senior military officials to develop a five-year budget plan that would slash defense spending by 8% annually, a dramatic cut which could reshape military end-strength and readiness for decades.

In a memo first obtained by the Washington Post, Hegseth ordered the proposed cuts to be compiled by Feb. 24. Seventeen categories would be exempt from the budget reductions, including military operations at the southern U.S. border, nuclear weapons and missile defense programs, and acquisition of certain drones and munitions. Defense Department officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the plans.

The idea of steep defense cuts, originally reported by Bloomberg last week, is certain to draw opposition from lawmakers on Capitol Hill, where Republicans in recent weeks had been discussing major increases in defense spending in upcoming years – not significant cuts.

But Hegseth’s budget plans appear to follow broader instructions from President Donald Trump to reduce government spending, including the dismissal of thousands of federal workers in the last few weeks.

Total defense spending reached nearly $850 billion in fiscal 2024. The fiscal 2025 Defense Department budget has not yet been finalized, despite the new fiscal year starting last October.

An 8% annual cut for the next five years would mean almost $300 billion less in military spending through fiscal 2030 compared to a stable budget figure. But most years, lawmakers approve increases in military spending at least equal to inflation, and often even higher than that.

According to the Washington Post, Hegseth in the memo said the new budget would “resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit.”

Past Defense Department projections put military spending plans at close to $900 billion by fiscal 2030. Under Hegseth’s reduction proposals, that mark would be closer to $560 billion, the lowest defense budget since fiscal 2006.

Earlier this year, Trump publicly suggested that all NATO countries spend at least 5% of their gross domestic product on defense, a figure that would mandate a nearly $1 trillion military budget for the United States.

Approving any defense cuts will fall to the Republican-led Congress, which began hearings on the fiscal 2026 military budget in the last few days. That process is expected to take most of the year.

Before that, lawmakers still need to reach agreement on a short-term or long-term budget extension for fiscal 2025 by the middle of March, or trigger a partial government shutdown.

Last month, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., told Breaking Defense he hoped to boost defense spending by as much as $200 billion in coming years to deal with growing threats from China, Iran and other adversaries.