{
  "id": 11216767,
  "title": "The Pentagon’s Secret Budget",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/01/the-pentagons-secret-budget-11216767",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-10-01T10:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The Intercept",
    "slug": "the-intercept",
    "url": "https://theintercept.com/2026/10/01/trump-military-true-cost-budget-pentagon-trillions/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "The Pentagon's budget is shrouded in secrecy and waste, making it difficult to determine the true cost. The Defense Department has never undergone an audit, leaving no definitive answer to its expenditures. Amid this, the department has spent millions on Tomahawk missiles that killed over 150 Iranian civilians, primarily children, and an eye-popping $10 billion per ship for the Zumwalt class of naval destroyers. Additionally, the department spent undisclosed amounts on influencer outreach, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's office hiring conservative military veterans to work in unspecified roles.\n\nPentagon officials, like former Army Colonel Kurt Schlichter, have admitted to taking temporary civilian positions to improve military colleges. However, Schlichter's extremist views, including advocating for penalizing certain lifestyles through taxes and even disqualifying non-military individuals from voting, have raised concerns. The Pentagon's involvement of such individuals in high-profile roles is unknown, but the expense is significant with more funds expected to flow in.\n\nAccording to recent reporting by Wired, the Pentagon has hired numerous conservatives with large online followings. While the exact number and cost of these hires remain unknown, the fiscal impact is undoubtedly substantial. In fact, TomDispatch editor David Vine exposes a shadow budget filled with Pentagon excess, waste, and bloat, which could potentially reach $1 trillion in additional spending next year if President Trump's proposal is approved.\n\nThe actual total could be $1 trillion higher than what President Trump has proposed, as the U.S. has already spent far more on the Pentagon and its wars than most realize. Congress, the White House, and the Pentagon have long hidden the military's true cost through obscure bureaucratic practices and budgeting techniques, while journalists, academics, and think tanks have unwittingly perpetuated the problem by repeating \"official\" figures that fail to provide the full picture.",
  "summary": "Trump’s proposed budget hides $1 trillion in military spending from the public by spreading it across disparate government agencies. The post The Pentagon’s Secret Budget appeared first on The Intercept .",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}