Trump’s Funding ‘Freeze’ and the Pentagon….

There was a mess -up there also….

Compounded by a alcoholic,  newbie,  Defense Sec, who has NO experirnce in running a HUGE Department with almost 3 Million employee;’s and a budget of $800,000,00+…More worried about his President’s ego than the US Military and the American people…

Of particular worries was the thought that the Army had to cancel ANY contract that had a affirmative action clause in it…

That did NOT apply to the military it was later learned…

The Pentagon handles Tens  of BILLIONS of dollars of contract ‘s….

Any stop in their operation would reverberate thru the US economy’s Defense Industry….

 

The Army rushed to satisfy President Donald Trump’s executive orders this week, sparking so much confusion that top officials directed a halt on new contracts and then walked it back — the latest muddled response to a series of chaotic actions by the White House.

Top officials misinterpreted Trump’s order on diversity, equity and inclusion and set an Army freeze on deals for new weapons. The Pentagon clarified on Tuesday that it wasn’t going to issue a pause. The move upended the defense industry and signaled a broader uncertainty around the president’s sweeping actions.

It also reinforced the challenges to Trump’s quick-decision approach to governance — such as recent orders to freeze certain federal funding and foreign military aid — that has sent agencies scrambling. Such tension is particularly acute at the Pentagon, where questions about the impact of Trump’s executive orders threaten to slow down high-dollar programs and rock the defense industry.

“What kind of signal does this send to the defense industrial base, which is already plagued with a number of challenges?” said Becca Wasser, a former Army official and current senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security. “A lot of that stems from a very unclear demand signal from the U.S. government.”

Pentagon officials are bracing for more orders alongside an untested Pentagon chief eager to prove his worth.

“We’re going to hold people accountable,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters Monday as he arrived at the Pentagon for his first day of work. “The lawful orders of the president of the United States will be executed inside this Defense Department swiftly and without excuse.”

But this week’s confusion shows the challenges to making fast moves in the government’s largest federal agency.

“It was not communicated to us directly; it was leaked to us,” a defense industry executive, granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive matter, said about the ordeal. “We are interpolating based on memos that are government-to-government and attempting to turn that into useful information.”….

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A pause on Army contracts would have a significant impact on the industry, especially small companies with thinner profit margins. The Army’s contracting command carried out $84.5 billion in contracts in 2022, including $3.5 billion to replenish the service’s stockpiles that had been depleted in Ukraine.

“Many of the companies in new and innovative spaces, on the bleeding edge, it’s a huge gut punch to all of those,” the executive said.

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