The Defense Dept. and its $912B budget

The Department of Defense is preparing to cut as many as 5,400 probationary workers as it reduces its civilian workforce by 5% to 8%. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said, however, that some military operations would be exempt from these cuts. This comes on the heels of Secretary Hegseth removing the Chief of Naval Operations Admiral and the Air Force Vice Chief of Staff from their posts last week.

With this in mind, here’s more context behind this Cabinet department.

The Defense Department, established in 1947, operates the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Space Force. In federal fiscal year 2024, the department spent $912 billion of federal funds—13.5% of the government’s $6.8 trillion spending portfolio. Put another way, that's nearly $1 trillion dedicated to national security. The department ranked fourth among federal agencies for spending.

While overall federal spending has grown by 193.7% since 1980, defense spending rose by 62.7%. This means the Defense Department’s slice of the federal budget pie has shrunk —it’s down 11.8 percentage points since 1980 and 4.7 points in the last decade.
The Defense Department keeps its spending centralized within the federal government, transferring less than 0.05% of funds to state and local governments.
The military employed about 778,539 civilian workers as of September 2023. And as of last summer, 1.3 million active-duty troops served in the military.
The secretary of defense—nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate—leads this operation from the iconic Pentagon building. Other leadership includes the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the nation's highest-ranking military officer and foremost military advisor. Last Friday, President Trump removed General Charles Brown as chairman of the Joint Chiefs. He has nominated General Dan Caine for the position.

See more charts about the Defense Department.

Then, learn how much the nation spends on defense, a Defense Department responsibility that’s shared with the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department.

We also have data on the demographics of US troops.

We'll see you next Friday with the next Decoding DOGE. But before then, join USAFacts for a fact-based Q&A on March 3. We’ll go into the trendlines before headlines the night ahead of President Trump’s Joint Address to Congress.