Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has moved to shutter the Pentagon office that helped military leaders plan for possible future wars.
A memo signed by Hegseth dated March 13 reportedly said that civil employees in the Pentagon’s Office of Net Assessment will be reassigned to other “mission critical positions” as it is dismantled. The office is often referred to as the Pentagon’s internal think tank.
After reports of the memo were published, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell issued a statement about the “restructuring.”
“As part of the Department's ongoing commitment to strengthening our national defense, the Secretary of Defense has directed the disestablishment of the Office of Net Assessment (ONA) and the development of a plan to rebuild it in alignment with the Department's strategic priorities,” Parnell said.
“The Department remains committed to conducting rigorous, forward-looking strategic assessments that directly inform defense planning and decision-making,” he added.
The Office of Net Assessment, founded in 1973, plays a crucial strategic role in planning and preparing for possible conflicts.
The timing of the restructure was questioned by defense experts. “We’re in a period that looks a lot like the Cold War, and we’re doing away with an office that for decades helped senior leaders navigate that conflict,” former Pentagon strategist Thomas G. Mahnken of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments think tank told the New York Times.
Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called it “shortsighted” and said it “undermine[d] our ability to prepare for future conflicts.”
But some Republicans have been pushing for the office to close. Sen. Chuck Grassley said he personally discussed “ONA waste” with Hegseth in January, where he recommended shuttering the office.
“After years raising Cain about the Office of Net Assessment’s failure to strengthen our national defense and its rampant abuse of taxpayer dollars, I’m thrilled to hear the news that President Trump is abolishing this wasteful and ineffective office,” Grassley said in a statement.
He claimed that shutting the office would save American taxpayers over $20 million a year. The Pentagon’s annual budget is around $850 billion.
Hegseth has looked for ways to cut the military’s budget as he follows the efforts of President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
Retired Air Force lieutenant colonel Jim Baker was appointed director of the Office of Net Assessment by former Defense Secretary Ash Carter in 2015. He took over from the late Andrew W. Marshall, dubbed the “Pentagon’s Yoda” because of his experience and strategic, forward thinking.
The decision to hire Baker reflected a desire to change the focus of the office to more immediate threats and concerns, the Washington Post reported at the time.
