Secretary Hegseth is refusing to disclose to the public the budget and timeline for completing President Trump’s new Air Force One. Supplied by the government of Qatar reportedly free of charge, the plane is in the possession of the Department of Defense and it is promising to transfer the aircraft to the president’s library once he leaves office. 

Mr. Hegseth has been on Capitol Hill this week to discuss with lawmakers his budget request for the 2026 fiscal year, which begins in October.

On Wednesday, in testimony before a defense department subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, he was pressed by top Democrats about the administration’s plans to turn the $400 million Qatari jet into the president’s temporary plane.

“You have signed a contract with a company to reconfigure the aircraft. What is the price of that contract?” Senator Reed asked the defense secretary. 

“That cannot be revealed in this setting,” Mr. Hegseth responded.

“Why can’t it be revealed in this setting? This is the Appropriations Committee  of the United States Senate,” Mr. Reed replied. “We appropriate the money that you will spend after it’s authorized by my committee, and you cannot tell us how much the contract is for?”

“You will have that number, senator,” Mr. Hegseth said. 

“No! We want it now,” the longtime senator said, cutting off Mr. Hegseth and growing more frustrated by his non-answer. “The contract has been signed, correct? The contract has been signed?”

“Nothing on that front, that I’m aware of, is being executed,” the defense secretary told lawmakers. 

Retrofitting the Qatari jet with the security measures typical of Air Force One could take years. The plane must essentially be turned into a military operations center in the sky, with defense capabilities and the ability to remain in the air in perpetuity with the assistance of mid-flight refueling. The plane, as it is currently configured, has none of those capabilities. 

Some of the critics who disapprove of Mr. Trump accepting the jet have also pointed out that taking the jet from a foreign government opens up the possibility the new Air Force One is a security risk in and of itself. The Qataris could have placed spying technologies on the plane, meaning additional work by engineers will be required to ensure the plane’s safety and security. 

Senator Cruz said in an interview with CNBC last month that the Qatar plane posts “significant espionage and surveillance problems.”

Mr. Hegseth says he cannot disclose when exactly that process will be complete. “Again, the delivery time of anything of that sensitive nature is not for public consumption,” Mr. Hegseth told Mr. Reed after being asked about a delivery date for the new plane. 

The Rhode Island senator then asked Mr. Hegseth to discuss Boeing’s failure to deliver two new Air Force One planes on time — something Mr. Trump has said inspired him to accept the new plane from Qatar. 

“One of the problems is that the way we actually procure aircraft in this country takes so long,” the defense secretary said. 

“Oh yeah,” Mr. Reed then said, sarcastically.

“It’s seven, eight, nine, ten years late, requiring the necessity for a stopgap alternative,” Mr. Hegseth said of the Boeing planes. 

“Well, no. What you’ve just said is that the Boeing information was public knowledge. The delivery date, the cost, the cost overruns, but this is not because this is not only a bad deal for the American public, but it is gratifying the president’s ego, that’s all it is,” Mr. Reed said.