US Defense Secretary announces $5.1 billion Pentagon spending cut
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday that the Pentagon will cut $5.1 billion in non-essential spending, including grants to two prestigious American universities.
“We’ll be signing a memorandum ordering the termination of $5.1 billion in contracts with the Department of Defense,” Hegseth said in a video posted on X.
This announcement is part of a massive federal budget-cutting program undertaken by Elon Musk, with the approval of President Donald Trump, as part of his mandate to manage government efficiency.
The expenditures in question include $500 million in grants to Northwestern University and Cornell University, which were described as two academic institutions that tolerate anti-Semitism and support divisive diversity, equity, and inclusion programs.
For its part, Cornell University’s presidency said in a statement Tuesday that it had received 75 stop-work orders from the Department of Defense regarding research critically important to national defense, cybersecurity, and US health.
One of the grants is related to cancer research, according to the statement.
Pete Hegseth noted the suspension of eleven contracts related to diversity, equality and inclusion, climate, the response to the Covid-19 pandemic, and other non-core activities.
“We need this money to improve healthcare for our fighters and their families, rather than paying $500 an hour to consultants,” he explained.
The Pentagon’s 2025 budget is approximately $850 billion.
In February, the defense secretary, in a memo seen by The Washington Post, ordered measures to cut his department’s budget by 8% annually.
