*

Unclear if overall defense spending will shrink, officials

say

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In December, Biden signed bill authorizing $895 billion

*

Elon Musk has called F-35 fighter jet wasteful

(Adds bullet points)

By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON, Feb 19 (Reuters) -

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked some parts of

the military to propose what could be cut as part of a potential

8% spending reduction for them over each of the next five years,

U.S. officials said on Wednesday, although it was unclear if the

total defense budget would shrink.

In a memo described to Reuters by U.S. officials,

Hegseth called for the proposals by February 24.

Officials said it did not appear that Hegseth wanted a

major budget cut, but was looking to re-prioritize funding to

better align with President Donald Trump's national security

priorities.

There was a long list of exemptions, including U.S.

Indo-Pacific Command, funding for the military's mission along

the U.S. border with Mexico, as well as missile defense and

autonomous weapons, one of the officials said.

The military's commands that oversee operations in

Europe, the Middle East and Africa were not exempt.

The Pentagon's budget is approaching $1 trillion per

year. In December, then-President Joe Biden signed a bill

authorizing $895 billion in defense spending for the fiscal year

ending September 30.

Hegseth has said publicly that the Pentagon's focus is

on U.S. border security and threats posed by China. He has said

the U.S. can no longer be

"primarily focused on the security of Europe".

Pentagon employees have braced for firings after Elon Musk's

government downsizing teams started working out of the Pentagon.

Some civilian employees in the military said they had

started receiving emails on Thursday saying they could be

separated from the government since they were hired less than a

year ago.

Leaders from across the political spectrum have long

criticized waste and inefficiency at the Defense Department. But

Democrats and civil service unions have said Musk, the world's

richest person, lacks the expertise to restructure the Pentagon,

and the efforts of his team risk exposing classified programs.

Attempting to cancel defense programs could trigger

pushback from lawmakers to defend spending in their electoral

districts, a fact defense contractors are well aware of.

The F-35, for example, has suppliers located in all 50

U.S. states, a point Lockheed makes with a map on its website

detailing the economic value derived from production of the

fighter jets.

https://www.lockheedmartin.com/f35/about/economic-impact.html

Musk, himself a major U.S. defense contractor, has a

particular disdain for certain defense projects, especially the

F-35. He has posted on X that "Some U.S. weapons systems are

good, albeit overpriced, but please, in the name of all that is

holy, let us stop the worst military value for money in history

that is the F-35 program!"