Pete Hegseth Makes a Huge Announcement About Changes at the Department of Defense

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has announced groundbreaking changes at the Pentagon after working with DOGE to identify wasteful programs. Although the exact amount under the chopping block remains unclear, it is well above ten billion. DOGE said it had identified $5 billion of wasteful spending at the DOD, in addition to another $5 billion previously identified.

Hegseth explained that the Pentagon collaborated with DOGE in auditing over 50 contract vehicles, resulting in approximately $1 billion in savings. The audit also canceled $3.8 billion in the program’s extension, collectively saving approximately $5 billion.

“Yes, 5 billion in addition to the over 5 billion we’ve already found in working with DOGE. So that brings the tally now to over $10 billion in real savings at the Department of Defense working with DOGE, and we’re just getting started.”

DefSec Hegseth said the amount would go a long way in restoring the effectiveness and lethality of the military, which was his mandate under the Trump administration. 

“When President Trump asked me to serve as the Secretary of Defense, he gave all of us and me the mission of restoring the warrior ethos, and we’re focused on that every single day,” he said.

He noted that most of the money saved was allocated to management consultants and contractors, whose number greatly exceeded that of civilian employees.

“And many of them, those contractors, are making more money than our career senior executive employees,” he added.

“Converting consultants into combat power,” Hegseth said. “That’s what we’re doing here at the Defense Department.”

He authorized the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Steve Feinberg, to work with DOGE and other DOD services to review all consulting contracts, which could lead to more savings. 

He also noted that he would reduce the number of consultants and contractors, as they did not contribute to the fighting force, as they were people who only “gave PowerPoints.”

He stressed that the Department of Defense under his leadership must focus on “actual financial responsibility and stewardship” by spending more on essential programs that enhance the military’s mission, such as healthcare for servicemembers and their families.

Before the Trump administration won the legal battle to ban transgender servicemembers from the military, the Department of Defense was hemorrhaging money on gender transition procedures and gender affirming care for trans members.

When announcing draft legislation dubbed “Readiness Over Wokeness Act” to codify Trump’s ban on transgender servicemembers, Alabama GOP U.S. Rep. Barry Moore explained that transgender individuals joined the military solely for the transition and gender affirming care and left before they could serve.

“What we had with this trans movement was we had a bunch of people coming in, signing a six-year contract, and then starting the surgeries and starting the hormone replacements …, and then by the time they could really actually serve, they were ready to get out,” he told Fox News.

Subsequently, diverting that money toward the actual healthcare of committed servicemembers would improve their efficiency and lethality in line with Trump’s “Prioritizing Military Excellence and Readiness” executive order.