The Elon Musk-led DOGE is breathing down the neck of most Government departments with the USAID already on the way to being closed. The DOGE department has now turned its attention to the Pentagon and its wasteful spending has come under fire.
There are examples galore of wasteful spending by the Pentagon and investigations revealed that the Pentagon budget consisted of a whopping $1,300 coffee cups and overpriced soap dispenser.
Elon Musk’s DOGE Aims at Pentagon’s $850B Budget
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has turned its gaze on the $850 billion budget of the Pentagon. The Fox News reports that US President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are contemplating huge cuts after it found instances of waste and inefficiency.
US President Donald Trump has stated that there is every possibility of finding billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse. Since the DOD department budget is controlled by Congress there is every possibility that disagreements might arise between the Republicans and the approach of Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
Among the slew of measures which DOGE intends to enforce includes huge cuts especially the reliance on contractors which constitute half of the budget of the Pentagon. The Defense Business Board, which is a watchdog, had suggested saving $125 billion over five years by refurbishing bureaucracy and renegotiating the service contracts. Also, the department has taken serious note of wasteful expenditures like $149,000 for the soap dispensers and $1,300 for coffee cups and recommended measures to make people accountable for such fallacies.
The DOGE department has also derided the F-35 fighter jet program and dubbed it as one of the most wasteful enterprises with little military value. It has also recommended the end of the F-35 program and save $12 billion annually. However, the move could face a lot of opposition from Congress because of concerns about job loss.
Another sticking point that DOGE has raised is the Sentinel ICBM program and shelving it will save $3.7 billion per year. Also, DOGE has underlined the $143.2 billion research budget which also included researchers with ties to China.
However, these measures are not going to have smooth sailing with resistance expected from Congress as well as the powerful lobby from the defense industry.
The DOGE entity also stated its goal to reduce the number of federal employees. The department is also looking closely at the service contracts affected by the Pentagon which it termed as a wasteful enterprise. These contracts were linked to varied government functions, such as IT support, and are seen as a major source of ineptitude.
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