The Hegseth budget: defense secretary’s $1.5tn ask reveals military-industrial chaos

The Pentagon head proposed a 44% increase – to second world war levels – while ‘woke’ programs are gutted US politics live – latest updates When the ‘“department of government efficiency” was raging unchecked through the federal government in February 2025, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, ordered his subordinates to find cuts of 8% a year for the next five years, theoretically trimming a total of $340m from the Pentagon budget. The disclosure briefly sent Palantir and defense stocks ta