Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday told the Pentagon to begin looking at where the U.S. can trim the defense budget by 8% for each of the next five years. 

The Pentagon budget is roughly $850 billion for 2025, which means the cuts would be tens of billions of dollars, according to The Washington Post. Defense hawks have claimed the money is necessary to deter threats from China and Russia.

Hegseth ordered the department to have its proposed cuts prepared by Feb. 24, according to a memo obtained by the Post. The memo includes 17 areas from whence the reductions cannot be pulled, including operations at the southern U.S. border, modernization of nuclear weapons, and acquisition of one-way attack drones.

“President Trump’s charge to DoD is clear: achieve Peace through Strength,” Hegseth wrote. “The time for preparation is over — we must act urgently to revive the warrior ethos, rebuild our military, and reestablish deterrence. 

"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 added.

The memo requires the U.S. to continue providing support at a few prominent regional headquarters, including Northern Command, Indo-Pacific Command, and Space Command. Africa Command, European Command, and Central Command were not on the list.

European Command has played a large role in implementing U.S. strategy during the war in Ukraine, and Central Command plays a major part in the U.S. responses to wars in the Middle East.

If adopted, the cuts would mark the largest attempt to rein in defense spending since 2013. 

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.