(L-R) US Air Force General Charles Q. Brown Jr., chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, and Mike McCord, Under Secretary of Defense Comptroller and Chief Financial Officer, tesifity on the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request during a US House Armed Services Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on April 30, 2024. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)