Trump Loves Golden Dome. His Own White House Is Slow-Rolling Spending

Foreign Policy · Feb 23, 2026 · Collected from RSS

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Billions in approved spending held up by Office of Management and Budget. By Sam Skove, a staff writer at Foreign Policy. Hegseth gestures in front of a poster board showing an illustrated golden dome of light covering a map of the United States while Trump sits at his desk. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (right) talks about Golden Dome with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on May 20, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Security United States February 23, 2026, 4:49 PM Billions of dollars in funding for two of the Trump administration’s signature national security drives—the Golden Dome missile shield and a push to ramp up drone production—are not being disbursed, according to a Defense Department document received by Foreign Policy. U.S. President Donald Trump in May hailed spending on the Golden Dome, promising that his administration would be “forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland.” Billions of dollars in funding for two of the Trump administration’s signature national security drives—the Golden Dome missile shield and a push to ramp up drone production—are not being disbursed, according to a Defense Department document received by Foreign Policy. U.S. President Donald Trump in May hailed spending on the Golden Dome, promising that his administration would be “forever ending the missile threat to the American homeland.” Despite the technical challenges, including putting counter-missile weapons into space, he also promised a quick turnaround of just three years, or before his second term is up. Trump has put the price tag at $175 billion, while other estimates have put it considerably higher. To fund the program, Trump announced $25 billion in spending on the initiative as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which Congress passed last year. The Defense Department document, however, shows that as much as $14 billion in spending for space capabilities relevant to Golden Dome are “pending approval” from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which releases federal funds. That includes $7.2 billion for space-based sensors; $3.6 billion for military satellites and their protection; $2 billion for separate, targeting-related military satellites; $800 million for next-generation intercontinental ballistic missile defense systems; $350 million for space command-and-control systems; and $125 million for space communication systems. The funding holdup could delay fielding Golden Dome on the ambitious schedule proposed by Trump, said Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. “Given that we are nearly halfway through the fiscal year, it will be difficult to use much of this money for [fiscal year] 2026, which means the allocations will carry forward to [fiscal year] 2027,” Harrison said. The Defense Department has also made the acquisition of drones a major priority, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth promising to unleash “drone dominance.” However, $1.5 billion in funds for small drone vessels and $2.1 billion for medium drone vessels remain locked away pending approval, according to the document. It’s unclear why OMB has held up funding, although it points to a disagreement between OMB and the Defense Department on how to best allocate the money, Harrison said. The Defense Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Asked for comment, OMB communications director Rachel Cauley said, “[T]his is not true, whomever is telling you this is misinformed. It’s not a secret where the White House is on the policy of competition and sole-source contracts.” Foreign Policy’s initial query did not ask about competition or sole-source contracts. Foreign Policy subsequently asked Cauley if she was saying that the funding is not specifically being withheld related to concerns that the Golden Dome or drone-contracting process will not be competitive. She responded, “Most of that money isn’t being held at all. It’s complete garbage.” At least one of the lines that is currently pending approval is a $2 billion allocation for an “air moving target indicator” satellite system. SpaceX was set to win that contract, the Wall Street Journal previously reported. Golden Dome has previously come under public scrutiny over a bid by SpaceX, Anduril, and Palantir to build the system. Rachel Oswald contributed to this report. 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