File photo for representational purposes only.
| Photo Credit: AP

In naming Alibaba, the Pentagon said the tech giant helps boost China’s defense industrial base because it is affiliated with the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. Alibaba is traded on the New York Stock Exchange. File.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

For many years, Pentagon reporters had credentials granting them wide movement in the building as they sought to interact with press officials there. But last October, most news outlets turned in access badges and walked out of the Pentagon rather than agree to government-imposed restrictions on their work. File
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Anthropic alleged the government violated its right to free speech under the First Amendment of the Constitution by retaliating against its views on ‌AI safety. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

The Pentagon confirmed it had accepted the donation on Thursday “under its general gift acceptance authority.”
| Photo Credit: Reuters

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a review of the department’s 2026 budget. File
| Photo Credit: AP

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered a review of the department’s 2026 budget to reallocate $50 billion in funds, the Pentagon said Wednesday (February 19, 2025), following reports that he had directed deep, multi-year cuts to military spending.

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U.S. media said Mr. Hegseth directed senior Defense Department leaders to plan for cuts that could slash the Defence budget by eight percent annually, or some $290 billion within the next five years.

The Pentagon did not directly deny those reports but instead described an effort aimed at removing funding from programs favoured by former president Joe Biden and using it on those advocated by his successor Donald Trump.

“Secretary Hegseth has directed a review to identify offsets from the Biden administration’s FY26 budget that could be realigned from low-impact and low-priority Biden-legacy programs to align with President Trump’s America First priorities for our national defense,” Robert Salesses, performing the duties of deputy secretary of defense, said in a statement.

“The department will develop a list of potential offsets that could be used to fund these priorities, as well as to refocus the department on its core mission of deterring and winning wars. The offsets are targeted at eight percent of the Biden Administration’s FY26 budget, totaling around $50 billion, which will then be spent on programs aligned with President Trump’s priorities,” the statement said.

A report from the Washington Post meanwhile described a memo from Mr. Hegseth — dated Tuesday — that ordered the development of plans for eight percent to be cut from the defence budget in each of the next five years.

Revive the warrior ethos

Mr. Hegseth’s memo said the proposed cuts must be drawn up by February 24, and include 17 categories that Mr. Trump wants to be exempted, including operations at the U.S. border with Mexico and modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, the newspaper reported.

It also called for funding for Indo-Pacific Command and Space Command, but did not do so for others such as European Command, which has led the way on U.S. strategy throughout the war in Ukraine, the Post reported.

The Defense Department “must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth wrote in the memo, according to the Post.

“Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit,” he reportedly continued.

The Pentagon’s budget for 2025 is some $850 billion and the cuts described in the memo, if implemented in full, would reduce that figure by tens of billions each year to some $560 billion by the end of the five years.

Trump has vowed to slash government spending, and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)— which is tasked with carrying out that effort — reportedly visited the Pentagon last week.

Mr. Hegseth signalled support for DOGE’s work at the Pentagon in a Tuesday post on X: “Let’s get to work. DOGE the waste; Double-Down on warriors,” he wrote.

Washington:

The Trump administration has ordered senior US military leaders to plan for expansive cuts that could slash the defense budget by eight percent annually, or some $290 billion within the next five years, US media reported Wednesday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Pentagon to develop the deep reductions, The Washington Post reported, citing a memo.

The Pentagon’s budget for 2025 is some $850 billion. Lawmakers across the political spectrum agree that the massive spending is needed to deter threats, especially from China and Russia.

The cuts, if implemented in full, would reduce that figure by tens of billions each year to some $560 billion by the end of the five years.

The report did not give details of where the cuts would be made in the world’s biggest military, but an earlier Post report said that junior civilian workers, not uniformed personnel, were being targeted.

The news — which comes after Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency reportedly visited the Pentagon last week — was likely to be met with stiff resistance from both the military and Congress.

Trump on Wednesday signaled support for a House of Representatives bill that would increase the defense budget by $100 billion — a move at odds with the Hegseth-directed cuts.

The planned reductions also run counter to calls by Trump and Hegseth for NATO members to increase their military spending to five percent of GDP a year.

– ‘Revive the warrior ethos’ –

The United States currently spends around 3.4 percent of its GDP on defense, and the five percent threshold would be even farther out of reach if the Pentagon’s budget is reduced.

The stock prices of major US defense contractors were hit by the news, with Lockheed Martin dropping briefly before recovering, Northrop Grumann falling nearly two percent and Palantir closing down more than 10 percent.

Hegseth’s memo said the proposed cuts must be drawn up by February 24, and include 17 categories that Trump wants exempted, including operations at the US border with Mexico and modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense.

It also calls for funding for regional headquarters such as Indo-Pacific Command and Space Command.

But other major centers such as European Command, which has led the way on US strategy throughout the war in Ukraine, and also Africa Command and Central Command — which oversees operations in the Middle East — were absent from the list, the Post reported.

The Defense Department “must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence,” Hegseth wrote in the memo, dated Tuesday, according to the Post.

“Our budget will resource the fighting force we need, cease unnecessary defense spending, reject excessive bureaucracy, and drive actionable reform including progress on the audit,” he reportedly continued.

US President Donald Trump has vowed to slash government spending and end US support for Ukraine in its war against Russian invasion.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

China is building a new military command centre near Beijing that is expected to be 10 times the size of the Pentagon, a report in Financial Times, citing US intelligence officials has claimed. Dubbed “Beijing Military City”, the construction on the project started in mid-2024 with recent satellite images showing deep holes dug in the 1,500-acre area, located 30 km southwest of the capital city.

The new military command may house large buildings and hardened bunkers, designed to protect the top Politburo officials during any conflict, including a nuclear war.

“Nearly 10 times bigger than the Pentagon, it’s fitting for Xi Jinping’s ambitions to surpass the US,” an unnamed Chinese researcher told the publication. “This fortress only serves one purpose, which is to act as a doomsday bunker for China’s increasingly sophisticated and capable military.”

“Guards at one gate abruptly said that entry was prohibited and refused to talk about the project. One supervisor leaving the construction site refused to comment on the project,” the report stated.

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China’s future plans

Currently, China’s main command center is located in the Western Hills, northeast of the new facility, and was built decades ago at the height of the Cold War.

“If confirmed, this new advanced underground command bunker for the military leadership, including President Xi as the chairman of the Central Military Commission, signals Beijing’s intent to build not only a world-class conventional force but also an advanced nuclear warfighting capability,” said Dennis Wilder, the former head of China analysis for the CIA.

Notably, the Pentagon serves as the headquarters of the Department of Defense and is located in Arlington in the state of Virginia. It is one of the world’s largest office buildings and hub of Washington’s foreign policy.

The development comes in the backdrop of China rapidly increasing its nuclear arsenal to be prepared for any Western misadventure. As per the Pentagon, Beijing will have 1,500 operable nuclear weapons by 2035, matching the firepower of the United States.

Washington:

The US military said Tuesday its forces had hit Huthi targets in Yemen’s capital that the Iran-backed rebels used to attack American warships and commercial vessels.

The attacks began Monday and were carried out by US Navy ships and aircraft that also struck Huthi-controlled coastal regions of Yemen, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

It also said US Navy and Air Force aircraft had destroyed “seven cruise missiles and one-way attack UAVs over the Red Sea,” using an acronym for unmanned aerial drones.

“There were no injuries or damage to US personnel or equipment in either incident,” it said.

One witness in Yemen’s Huthi-controlled capital Sanaa reported several strikes in different locations.

Another reported raids on Sanaa on the Defense Ministry and having heard a powerful explosion.

Huthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam called the strikes “an American aggression” and “a blatant violation of the sovereignty of an independent state and a blatant support for Israel.”

The rebels said earlier Tuesday that they had fired two missiles at Israel, hours after the Israeli military said it had intercepted a projectile launched from the country.

The Huthis control much of war-torn Yemen and have been firing missiles and drones at Israel, and at ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, in what they say is solidarity with Palestinians during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

President-elect Donald Trump has called out President Biden and the Pentagon, accusing them of withholding information about the mysterious drones that have been spotted hovering over New Jersey and New York. Trump’s concerns come as the sightings have left many wondering about the origin and purpose of these drones.

“The government knows what is happening. Look, our military knows where they took off from — if it’s a garage, they can go right into that garage. They know where it came from and where it went, and for some reason, they don’t want to comment,” Trump said during a press conference in Palm Beach.

“And I think they’d be better off saying what it is. Our military knows and our president knows. And for some reason, they want to keep people in suspense,” he added. 

However, Trump sidestepped a question about whether he’d personally received an intelligence briefing on the mysterious drones spotted over New Jersey and New York. When asked, he refused to comment, leaving many wondering if he’s been privy to any classified information about the drones. The president-elect also said that he doubted that the drones were the work of a foreign enemy.

“If it was the enemy they’d blast it out. Even if they were late, they’d blast it. Something strange is going on. For some reason, they don’t want to tell the people, and they should,” he said. 

Trump also recently mentioned that his golf course in Bedminster, New Jersey, was one of the locations where mysterious drones were spotted. Due to these sightings, he decided to cancel his upcoming trip to Bedminster.

In recent weeks, residents of New Jersey have reported numerous sightings of unidentified drones hovering over suburban neighbourhoods, industrial areas, and even sensitive locations. The unusual activity has sparked widespread speculation and concern and prompted lawmakers to demand the Biden administration explain what was behind the mysterious sightings. US officials have said that most of the sightings involve manned aircraft and that there is no evidence of any threat to public safety or national security. 

At a Pentagon briefing before Trump’s news conference began, Air Force Major General Pat Ryder, the Pentagon spokesman, told reporters there was “no evidence at this time that the reported drone sightings pose a national security or public safety threat, or have a foreign nexus.”

Meanwhile, White House spokesman John Kirby recently stated that despite using sophisticated electronic detection technologies, federal officials, along with state and local law enforcement authorities, have been unable to corroborate any of the reported visual drone sightings over New Jersey. Instead, many of these sightings have been attributed to the misidentification of regular aircraft, such as airliners and helicopters, as drones.