President Barack Obama’s threatened veto of the House Defense authorization bill is both a signal of his desire to revamp defense priorities and a message that he wants to force Congress to make difficult decisions on spending, according to White House officials. The warning is the first formal veto threat of Obama’s presidency.

“The president believes that for too long, tough choices have been put off in Washington,” White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said. “As a result, we’ve pursued costly weapons systems that were not suited to the threats we face or have not proven to be effective or efficient — wasting hundreds of billions of dollars.”