Planning is beginning for the military parade that President Donald Trump ordered the Defense Department to organize in February, NBC News reported.
No budget has been set for the project. The Defense Department can pay for parts of the event out of its training budget, by assigning a fly-by to a pilot who needs flight hours, and troops stationed in the capital region are not expensive, the NBC report said.
Officials have recommended that the parade route begin at the Capitol, pass the White House and end at the National Mall. The date has moved up to Nov. 10 from Nov. 11, the NBC report said.
A Joint Chiefs of Staff team is putting together a planning order for U.S. Northern Command, which will look at the specifics of the project, the NBC report said.
The Pentagon is not responsible for other parade costs including overtime for the Secret Service and police, as well as constructing and taking down risers, stands, and barriers, the report said.
Pentagon officials said they would be able to handle the project, but the NBC report noted that some criticized the need for it.
"There is only one person who wants this parade," said a senior U.S. official, referring to the president.
"There’s no reason to do it aside from bolstering Trump’s ego," veteran national security reporter Thomas E. Ricks said earlier this year, NBC reported.
Some Washington lawmakers have also criticized the idea. The parade is a "fantastic waste of money to amuse the president," Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said in February, NBC News reported.
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