The Pentagon’s Secret Budget

The Pentagon's budget is shrouded in secrecy and is believed to be bloated with wasteful expenditures. The Defense Department has never undergone an audit, making it difficult to determine the exact costs. It is known to include significant spending on Tomahawk missiles that killed over 150 Iranian civilians, often school children, and the costly Zumwalt-class naval destroyers which are estimated to cost $10 billion each, despite being initially billed at $1.5 billion per ship.

Additionally, there are undisclosed funds spent on online influencers, including conservative military veterans hired by the Pentagon to work in undefined roles. The Pentagon has hired veterans like Kurt Schlichter, a retired Army colonel with over 620,000 followers on X, who has expressed extremist views, including suggestions to penalize barren, non-familial lifestyles through taxes and disqualification from political participation.

However, the Pentagon has failed to comment when questioned about the specifics of these hires. There is a shadow budget within the Pentagon, with TomDispatch reporting that it could cost taxpayers $1 trillion next year if President Trump's proposal passes. The actual total, if Trump's request is approved, could be at least $1 trillion higher, potentially exceeding $2.5 trillion by 2027.

The government has been hiding the total cost of the military through various bureaucratic practices and budgeting tricks for decades. Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon have hidden the military's true cost, and journalists, academics, and think tank experts have largely perpetuated this problem by repeating "official" numbers that do not accurately reflect the full story.