Defense spending: King crab, lobster tail cost taxpayers more than $80 million in a few months

Topline: One doesn’t associate luxury with being in the military, but Pentagon personnel spent record amounts of money dining on seafood in 2025, according to federal spending records reviewed by Open the Books.

Key facts: From March to November 2025, the military spent $15.9 million on 524 orders of Alaskan king crab and $66.7 million on 1,359 orders of lobster.

There have only been seven times in history where the Pentagon spent at least $2 million on Alaskan king crab in a single month.