Trump Admin Wants A Record $1,000,000,000,000 Pentagon Budget — But Does America Need It?

The U.S. military’s defense capabilities have been neglected for far too long — and President Donald Trump’s record $1 trillion defense budget proposal will help reverse course, a former Pentagon official told the Daily Caller.

Opponents, however, argue the dramatic spending increase is unnecessary and wasteful.

Trump announced the proposal during an event with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in April.

“We also essentially approved a budget … $1 trillion,” Trump said. “And nobody’s seen anything like it. We have to build our military, and we’re very cost conscious, but the military is something that we have to build, and we have to be strong, because you got a lot of bad forces out there now.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reiterated Trump’s sentiment, stating the budget will fund “lethality and readiness.” (RELATED: Top Hegseth Adviser Placed On Leave Amid Pentagon Intelligence Leak Probe)

Thank you Mr. President!

COMING SOON: the first TRILLION dollar @DeptofDefense budget.

President @realDonaldTrump is rebuilding our military — and FAST.

(PS: we intend to spend every taxpayer dollar wisely — on lethality and readiness) pic.twitter.com/WcZlNAHgDG

— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) April 7, 2025

The budget increase is needed to ensure the military possesses the capabilities necessary for defending the U.S., the former Pentagon official told the Caller.

Too much of the defense budget goes toward non-lethal defense spending, he added.

He pointed to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDDA) which Congress passes annually to fund the U.S. military.

“Politicians know that is where … they’re going to bring pork to their constituents back home,” he said. “They ladle it into the [NDAA], and then it gets appropriated.”

As a result, the defense budget contains programs that do not pertain to national security.

Trump has also pressed National Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members to increase defense spending and become less reliant on the United States.

I had the opportunity today to conduct my first town hall with the proud civil servants that run the Pentagon. I shared with them my three pillars and intention to spend the next four years reviving the warrior ethos, restoring trust in the military and rebuilding it by matching… pic.twitter.com/JrGGGpiLIQ

— Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (@SecDef) February 8, 2025

Advocates also say the U.S. relies too much on adversaries for critical components.

China exports antimony, a crucial mineral for the production of military equipment like bullets and munitions, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).

“It’s a very dangerous place to be, and we’re going to have to make a lot of investments to fix that, and it’s had so many years of neglect that it’s going to take some substantial budget increases to make it happen,” the former Pentagon official told the Caller. (RELATED: Pete Hegseth Warns Terrorists It Will ‘Only Get Worse’ For Them Unless They Stop ‘Shooting At Our Ships’)

However, others have cautioned against increased defense spending.

“We can provide a robust defense of the United States and its allies for far less than $1 trillion per year,” Bill Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft (QI), told the Caller.

“The key is to adopt a more realistic strategy that doesn’t involve being able to go anywhere on the planet to fight a war, and that relies on allies to do more in their own defense. Throwing more money at the Pentagon when it can’t even spend its current budget well is a recipe for waste and fraud. The Pentagon needs more spending discipline, not more spending,” Hartung said in a statement.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth listens as President Donald J Trump meets with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Oval Office at the White House on Monday, April 07, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

Notably, the Pentagon has failed seven consecutive audits, including the most recent audit in November 2024.

Critics of increased defense spending have also pointed to the steep cost of military interventionism.

Brown University’s Cost of Wars project found that the wars launched after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks  — including in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria — cost around $8 trillion.