This summer, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth asked a Republican lawmaker what he thought the odds were that Congress would pass the Trump administration’s record $1.5 trillion defense budget request.

The chances, the lawmaker responded, were about the same as Hegseth getting confirmed again by the Senate.

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“You have a problem, and you need to increase the amount and the quality of the communication” with Congress, the Republican lawmaker recounted in an interview, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe the private exchange.

Months later, members of both parties said the Pentagon has not changed course.

For decades, defense issues have mostly remained insulated f...