“NIH funds should be used to improve the health of Americans. Far from siphoning money away from research, this partnership between @NIH and @DeptofWar focuses on research projects that will drive discoveries to improve the health of American citizens and members of the military. Led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, all work will be 100% aligned with our public health mission.
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The Pentagon Quietly Signs a Ten-Year Agreement Letting It Draw on the NIH’s Infectious-Disease Budget — Up to $2 Billion, Close to a Third of the Institute’s Money — and the Top Appropriations Democrats in Both Chambers Say It Was Done Behind Congress’s Back
September 4, 2026
On Thursday, September 3, 2026, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on House Appropriations, disclosed that the Department of Defense had signed an interagency agreement with the National Institutes of Health that "facilitates the transfer of funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War." The agreement runs to 2036 and names no dollar figure. People familiar with it estimated that as much as $2 billion could move out of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — close to a third of an institute whose annual budget is roughly $7 billion, and the money Congress appropriated for research on HIV, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and Ebola. The stated purpose is "the advanced development of medical countermeasures against pandemic influenza, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, and emerging infectious diseases." The Pentagon posted a redacted copy of the agreement on September 4. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, and DeLauro both demanded the agreement be terminated outright, and both tied it to the Pentagon’s cash crunch: the department is six months into the Iran war, the Navy has been raiding its own payroll accounts, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s $350 billion reconciliation request has gone nowhere in either chamber. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya publicly defended the deal as a research partnership rather than a diversion, saying the work would be led by NIAID and would be "100% aligned with our public health mission." A White House spokesman said no money was being transferred to the Pentagon at all, calling it "a project-by-project research partnership." As of this writing no congressional Republican had publicly weighed in.
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“As if canceling lifesaving medical research and clinical trials and firing cancer researchers en masse were not bad enough, the Trump administration is now trying to rob NIH of billions of dollars that Congress provided for medical research so that it can pad the Pentagon’s budget.
“We cannot allow this administration to shred patients’ hopes of new, lifesaving cures and treatments so that President Trump and Secretary Hegseth can secretively fund their own priorities in defiance of Congress. This outrageous agreement must be terminated immediately, and we need Republicans in Congress to join us in using their power to ensure that happens.
“These funds were provided for lifesaving medical research, not as extra money for the Department of Defense. It is no secret that the Department of Defense is facing enormous financial pressure because of President Trump’s war of choice with Iran. But the Trump administration cannot make American patients, families, and scientists pay the price.
“Circumventing Congress to divert money intended to help Americans who are exposed to HIV, influenza, tuberculosis, and other deadly diseases—and directing those funds to the Department of Defense—is beyond the pale. DoD already has programs, funded by Congress, to research and develop medical countermeasures to chemical, biological, and nuclear threats, and does not need NIH funding to do so. The administration must provide Congress with a full accounting of how this interagency agreement was developed and exactly how much taxpayer money it is trying to transfer to DoD.
“This secretive attempt to siphon research funds away from NIH is outrageous. The interagency agreement needs to be terminated immediately.