Tag: pentagon

Pentagon Is Removing DEI Material from ‘All Official Online Content’

The Pentagon is removing diversity, equity, and inclusion materials from “all official online content.”

Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell sent the directive to the entire department on Wednesday.

The memo, titled “Digital Content Refresh,” was obtained by Breitbart News and read as follows:

By March 5, 2025, Components must take all practicable steps, consistent with records management requirements, to remove al DoD news and feature articles, photos, and videos that promote Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). All articles, photos, and videos removed from DoD websites and social media platforms must be archived and retained in accordance with applicable records management policies.

DEl content includes but is not limited to information that promotes programs, concepts, or materials about critical race theory, gender ideology, and preferential treatment or quotas based upon sex, race or ethnicity, or other DEI-related matters with respect ot promotion and selection reform, advisory boards, councils, and working groups.

Content requiring removal also includes that which is counter to merit-based or color-blind policies (e.g., articles that focus on immutable characteristics, such as race, ethnicity, or sex) or promotes cultural awareness months as outlined in Secretary Hegseth’s January 31, 2025, Memorandum, “Identity Months Dead at DoD.”

Breitbart reports, “It said explicitly that the guidance does not apply to content required by law to be publicly available or related to normal installation or component operations and activities, including but not limited to, customer-focused content,” which includes base conditions, activies and services; current and historical leadership biographies; DoD Education Activity school activities, operations and notifications; and Morale, Welfare, and Recreation and Commissary operations and activities.

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President Trump Wants To Cut the Pentagon Budget in Half. How?

It is Presidents’ Day, and President Donald Trump has made a bold statement regarding military spending – one that no other president in modern history has made. He claims he could cut the Pentagon budget by about 50%.

President Trump has suggested a major cut in defense spending, proposing that the United States, Russia, and China each reduce their military budgets by 50%. He has also expressed a desire to begin denuclearization and arms control discussions with both Russia and China to accomplish this objective.

Military contractors poured $4,440,605 into Kamala Harris’s campaign – more than double what they contributed to Donald Trump. Yet, even with the support of establishment figures like Dick Cheney, their favored candidate fell short. The defeat of the military contractor’s candidate may have consequences for the industry.

Now, with President Trump in office and a bold initiative to cut Pentagon spending by 50%, the defense industry faces a challenge unlike any before.

The financial markets are already responding: Major U.S. defense firms are experiencing notable stock declines, while European defense companies surge in anticipation of increased regional military spending. Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics, and Northrop Grumman have all seen stocks fall, while companies such as Rheinmetall, BAE Systems, and Saab are benefiting from investors expecting a shift in global defense priorities.

Last week, we examined the staggering costs of U.S. military spending in ‘The Cost of Freedom: Confronting Military Waste.’ This week, we take the conversation further by analyzing President Trump’s claim that he could cut Pentagon spending in half – what that actually looks like, and which interests may be affected.

As President Trump pursues negotiations to bring peace to Ukraine, European governments appear to be moving in the opposite direction, increasing military budgets and deepening their involvement in the conflict. European defense firms are thriving as they anticipate further arms sales to governments committed to escalating military engagement rather than seeking diplomatic solutions.

This contrast underscores the significance of Trump’s initiative – challenging the entrenched military-industrial complex, wherever it is located, and seeking to end perpetual warfare.

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Report: Hegseth Orders Pentagon To Make Sweeping Budget Cuts

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has ordered Pentagon leaders to develop plans to make sweeping cuts to the Defense Department’s budget, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday.

According to a memo obtained by the Post, Hegseth’s order calls for an 8% cut to the Pentagon budget each year for five years. The Pentagon budget for 2025 is about $850 billion, and an 8% cut for five years would bring it down to roughly $560 billion, a reduction of $290 billion.

Hegseth wants the proposed cuts to be drawn up by February 24, and the memo included a list of 17 categories that would be exempt from the spending cuts.

The Post report said the exemptions include operations at the southern border, modernization of nuclear weapons and missile defense, and acquisition of submarines, one-way attack drones, and other munitions.

The Pentagon has also been targeted by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that the Trump administration ordered the Pentagon to hand over a list of its probationary employees with the expectation that many may be fired, which came as DOGE workers arrived at the Pentagon.

The news of the plan to cut the Pentagon budget comes after President Trump suggested he wanted a major reduction in US military spending, saying he wanted to cut it in half as part of a deal with Russia and China.

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You Get What They Pay For, War

Readers here have heard of Ray McGovern’s MICIMATT, the military-industrial-congressional-intelligence-media-academe-think-tank complex. It’s gargantuan and lubricated with enormous sums of money.

Consider think tanks. Go to thinktankfundingtracker.org and you’ll see useful information like this:

Top 10 Think Tanks That Receive Funding from Pentagon Contractors

  1. Atlantic Council $10,270,001
  2. Center for a New American Security $6,665,000
  3. Center for Strategic and International Studies $4,115,000
  4. Brookings Institution $3,475,000
  5. Hudson Institute $2,240,000
  6. Council on Foreign Relations $2,095,000
  7. Stimson Center $1,555,763
  8. Aspen Institute $1,125,000
  9. German Marshall Fund $871,010
  10. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace $620,008

I wonder why these think tanks tend to favor the agendas and interests of America’s various weapons makers? Hard to offer “neutral” or “balanced” advice when so much of your funding is coming from the merchants of death.

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The Pentagon is Recruiting Elon Musk to Help Them Win a Nuclear War

Donald Trump has announced his intention to build a gigantic anti-ballistic missile system to counter Chinese and Russian nuclear weapons, and he is recruiting Elon Musk to help him. The Pentagon has long dreamed of constructing an American “Iron Dome.” The technology is couched in the defense language – i.e., to make America safe again. But like its Israeli counterpart, it would function as an offensive weapon, giving the United States the ability to launch nuclear attacks anywhere in the world without having to worry about the consequences of a similar response. This power could upend the fragile peace maintained by decades of mutually assured destruction, a doctrine that has underpinned global stability since the 1940s.

A New Global Arms Race

Washington’s war planners have long salivated at the thought of winning a nuclear confrontation and have sought the ability to do so for decades. Some believe that they have found a solution and a savior in the South African-born billionaire and his technology.

Neoconservative think tank the Heritage Foundation published a video last year stating that Musk might have “solved the nuclear threat coming from China.” It claimed that Starlink satellites from his SpaceX company could be easily modified to carry weapons that could shoot down incoming rockets.

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Trump Directs Elon Musk’s DOGE Team to Conduct Comprehensive Audit of Pentagon

President Donald Trump revealed that he has directed Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to conduct a comprehensive audit of the Pentagon’s funding.

During a press conference with Japan’s prime minister, when asked by a reporter about directives related to Pentagon budget reviews, Trump confirmed his decision.

“Yes, I have [directed Musk to review] Pentagon, Education, just about everything,” Trump said.

Trump continued, “We’re going to go through everything, just as it was so bad with what we just went through with this horrible situation [with USAID]. I guess 97% of the people have been dismissed. It was very, very unfortunate. You’re not going to find anything like that, but you’re going to find a lot.”

It can be recalled that acting USAID Director and Secretary of State Marco Rubio is reportedly downsizing the bureaucratic agency, retaining only 294 of the agency’s 14,000 employees worldwide. This move cuts 97% of USAID’s staff.

“I’ve instructed him to go check the Pentagon, which is the military. Sadly, you’ll find some things that are pretty bad. But I don’t think, proportionately, you’re going to see anything like we just saw,” Trump said.

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Cut Pentagon Spending!

As Elon Musk runs amok in the U.S. government, claiming to work for government efficiency, I’ve yet to see him tackle the elephant in the room: the Pentagon budget. That budget, nominally at $900 billion, accounts for more than half of federal discretionary spending. If you’re looking to make cuts, that huge target is surely the place to put your crosshairs.

Will Elon Musk and the DOGE dare to target the Pentagon? If he and his DOGE crew have the guts to do so, I have some ideas for them from a piece I wrote for TomDispatch at the end of 2021.

Time to show some guts and make deep cuts, Mr. Musk.

An aside: Remember when the Pentagon budget was *only* $778 billion?

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The Death of DEI? Defense Sec Pete Hegseth Reportedly Cancels “Identity Months”—“We’re not joking around—DEI is gone!”

President Trump’s newly confirmed Defense Secretary, Pete Hegseth, is serious about putting an end to DEI. Today, a January 28 memo was leaked that discussed a “pause” on celebrating “cultural awareness months.”

Here is a portion of a memo that was reportedly being circulated at the DoD:

“Going forward, DoD Components and Military Departments will not use official resources, to include man-hours, to host celebrations or events related to cultural awareness months, including National African American/Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, National Hispanic Heritage Month, National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and National American Indian Heritage Month.”

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Pentagon’s New Mideast Policy Chief Wants To Scale Down US Presence In Region

The Trump administration has appointed a new Middle East policy chief in the Pentagon who believes the US should scale down its military presence in the region.

Michael DiMino, a former CIA analyst, was sworn in early this week as the deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East. Before taking the job, DiMino was a fellow at Defense Priorities, a think tank that calls itself the “hub of realism and restraint” and advocates for a less interventionist foreign policy.

Jewish Insider reported that DiMino’s appointment has alarmed pro-Israel Republicans due to his views on the region. The report cited comments DiMino made during a webinar last year where he said the Middle East does “not really matter” for US interests.

“Vital or existential US interests in the Middle East are best characterized as minimal to non-existent. And I think if you look at America’s experience as the primary security broker for the region… it has not rendered any lasting political, economic, or security benefits in service of US interests or the American people,” he said.

DiMino has opposed attacking Iran’s nuclear facilities and war with Iran in general and has repeatedly called for the withdrawal of US troops in Iraq and Syria, citing their vulnerability to attacks.

When President Biden launched a bombing campaign against Yemen’s Houthis in January 2024, DiMino opposed it and suggested the US should consider putting pressure on Israel to improve conditions in Gaza since the Israeli onslaught was the reason for the Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping.

“Any multi-billion-dollar effort to fight a war in Yemen would render no political, economic, or security benefits to the United States. Strategies like ‘buck passing’ and diplomatic engagement are perfectly viable, would do the US no harm, and could resolve the crisis. Continued military action in Yemen, by contrast, presents dubious prospects for success,” DiMino wrote in Responsible Statecraft.

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Pentagon Employees Responsible For Weapons Deliveries To Ukraine Have Been Fired

Ukrainian journalist Roman Bochkala is reporting personnel changes at the Pentagon for the office involved in weapons delivery to Ukraine.

“Everyone who was responsible for Ukraine has been fired or suspended. Or they will be transferred to other positions somewhere. A complete reboot,” Bochkala wrote, reported Ukrainian news entity Focus.

He explained that he received this information from a journalist from The Washington Post, who is responsible for Ukrainian topics and went to the Pentagon to find out what they were hearing about Ukraine.

“So, there will definitely be changes. A new format of relations. It’s all a bit disturbing. But somehow it will happen,” Bochkala emphasized.

The head of the Servant of the People parliamentary faction, David Arakhamia, stated that 
negotiations with Trump’s team could take place in early February.

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