February 13, 2020 2:52 PM • Updated: February 13, 2020 7:23 PM

U.S. Northern Command border support operations at Bisbee, Arizona on Nov. 6, 2018. US Army Photo

This post has been updated with statements from shipbuilder HII, the Office of the Secretary of Defense, HASC chairman Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) and HASC ranking member Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas).

Pentagon leaders want to reroute $1.5 billion in money from two major shipbuilding programs and aircraft for the Navy and Marine Corps to support construction of $3.8 billion in new physical barriers along the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a copy of a Fiscal Year 2020 reprogramming request obtained by USNI News.

According to the reprogramming request that hit the Hill today, the Department of Defense would move the money from the military services to the Department of Homeland Security’s counter-drug activities.

“DHS had identified areas along the southern border of the United States that are being used by individuals, groups and transnational crime organizations as drug smuggling corridors and determined that the construction of additional physical barriers and roads in the vicinity of the United States border is necessary in order to impede and deny drug smuggling activities,” reads the request signed by acting DoD comptroller Elaine McCusker.

The DoD justified its move in a Thursday afternoon statement.

“The Department of Defense is committed to supporting the Department of Homeland Security’s efforts to secure the southern border by constructing fences and roads and installing lighting to block drug smuggling corridors. Consistent with the President’s April 4, 2018, direction to the Secretary of Defense, DoD used its statutory authority to provide support that aids in blocking drug-smuggling corridors across international boundaries of the United States,” read the statement.
“Last month we received a new request from the Department of Homeland Security asking for assistance in blocking drug-smuggling corridors on Federal land along the southern border of the United States. In response, the Secretary of Defense authorized support of $3.8 billion to build approximately 177 miles of fencing that will help to protect our borders. We will continue to support DHS and other agencies as needed to keep our homeland is secure.”

The request, in two parts, asks for $2.2 billion to be reprogrammed from defense appropriations for vehicles and weapons and another $1.63 billion from the Pentagon’s Overseas Contingency Operations fund.

Of the $2.2 billion in the first part of the request, the Navy pays the lion’s share, with the request asking for $1.5 billion coming from shipbuilding and Navy and Marine Corps aircraft.

Specifically in naval aviation, the sea services would lose two F-35B Lighting II Joint Strike Fighters for $233 million, two V-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft for $155 million and one P-8A anti-submarine warfare aircraft for $180 million.