Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is putting common sense into the Pentagon budget process, correcting the record about what that means. Many in the media called it an 8% cut in the defense budget, but that was wrong. Since Congress has been talking about as much as a $150 billion increase in defense spending, the notion of a “cut” did not make much sense. The truth is that common sense has prevailed, and Hegseth has explained what is really happening.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) did visit the Pentagon with the mission of finding wasteful spending, inefficiencies, and energy expended on purposes other than “doing right by the warfighter,” as Hegseth explained in a recent video message to the American taxpayers. To that end, DOGE and Hegseth intend to find 8% of the FY2026 defense budget that will be used for new priorities to support readiness and lethality.

To be clear, the money identified as currently allocated in the budget left by the Biden administration will be redesignated to fund President Donald Trump’s effort to build a more effective warfighting national security capability. The budget will not be reduced. Hegseth welcomed DOGE into the Pentagon “to find the redundancies and identify the last vestiges of Biden priorities. The DEI [diversity, equity, inclusion], the woke, the climate change B.S. That’s not core to our mission, and we’re going to get rid of it all.” Additionally, he asserted that the reallocation of the budget priorities was in the planning stage and asked the military services to do the planning.

One of the main points Hegseth made was that when he observed the media misinterpret or report falsely about decisions made in the Department of Defense, he would correct the record as quickly as possible. He emphasized that his objective is transparency, and Americans paying for their defense must know and understand that their money is being spent wisely. This is fundamental to the Trump administration’s intense review of what has been the federal government’s casual approach to Americans’ treasure. “Since returning to office, President Donald Trump has acted swiftly to deliver on his campaign promise to drastically reduce the bureaucracy and financial waste at the federal level, implementing budget and personnel cuts,” the Daily Caller reported.

In his message to the American people, the defense secretary detailed the priorities the Pentagon will fund. There are 17, ranging from southern border security and combating transnational criminal organizations to achieving a clean audit, developing an Iron Dome homeland missile defense, nuclear modernization, critical cybersecurity, munitions, medical private-sector care, core readiness (including full deployment training), and combatant support for all warfighting commands.

Hegseth also clarified his intentions to evaluate probationary employees in the department. There was concern that DOGE would insist on the removal of all probationary new hires, but Hegseth put that fear to rest. The assessment of such employees as described in the president’s executive order is taking place across the entire federal government and not just in the Defense Department. “Bottom line it is simply not in the public interest to retain individuals whose contributions are not mission critical. The secretary explained that common sense drives the evaluation of probationary employees, identifying those whose performance is not up to expectations. “You want the best and brightest,” he declared.

Not only probationary employees but also top to bottom of the rest of the workforce will be evaluated “on a performance-based standard,” with a plan to retain those hard-working employees “who are central to the core warfighting mission,” Hegseth said. Significant in his talk was assuring taxpayers there is a new set of values in the Pentagon, chief among them transparency and straight talk.

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