Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wants Pentagon officials to lop off about 8% from the next defense budget to help fund the military priorities of the Trump administration.

He said those priorities include securing America’s borders, prioritizing missile defense with the Iron Dome project, and terminating “radical and wasteful” government DEI programs.

Mr. Hegseth directed the Defense Department to identify any offsets from the Biden administration’s defense budget that are funding “low-impact and low-priority” legacy programs, according to a Pentagon statement released late Wednesday.

“The Department of Defense is conducting this review to ensure we are making the best use of the taxpayer’s dollars in a way that delivers on President Trump’s defense priorities efficiently and effectively,” acting deputy secretary Robert G. Salesses said.

“Through our budgets, the Department of Defense will once again resource warfighting and cease the unnecessary spending that set our military back under the previous administration,” he said.

Mr. Salesses said climate change and other “woke” programs inside the Pentagon will likely face the chopping block, along with what he called the Defense Department’s “excessive bureaucracy.”

“President Trump’s charge to the Department is clear: to achieve peace through strength,” Mr. Salesses said. “We will do this by putting forward budgets that revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence.”

The White House could face some pushback from Capitol Hill where even Trump loyalists want to see an increase in the defense budget. The fiscal 2025 request was just under $850 billion.

Sen. Roger Wicker, the Mississippi Republican who chairs the powerful Senate Armed Services Committee, wants the U.S. to spend 5% of its GDP on defense, up from the current level of about 3.5%.

“America’s national defense strategy and military budget are inadequate for the dangerous world in which we find ourselves. An emerging axis of aggressors is working to undermine U.S. interests across the globe,” Mr. Wicker wrote last year in a congressional report titled “Peace Through Strength: A Generational Investment in the U.S. Military.”

“The best way to avoid further conflict is to be ready. Today’s security challenges demand a generational investment to revitalize our armed forces - investments that would restore America’s military strength for decades to come,” Mr. Wicker wrote.

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.