Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced another $580 million in program cuts on Thursday, labeling them as “wasteful” or misaligned with the administration’s priorities.
With these reductions, Hegseth estimated that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has identified approximately $800 million in Pentagon savings to date.
“These programs are not a good use of taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, taxpayers fund us, and we owe them transparency and responsible spending,” Hegseth stated in an X video while highlighting some of the savings.
One of the cuts he highlighted was an “HR software initiative” that exceeded its budget by over $280 million and fell seven years behind schedule. Originally, the program was expected to take one year to complete and cost $36 million, according to Hegseth.
Additionally, the secretary stated that approximately $360 million in grants were eliminated.
Among the cuts were grants for decarbonizing missions conducted by Navy ships, a $5.2 million diversity initiative aimed at engaging BIPOC students and scholars, and around $9 million to assist an unnamed university in supporting “equitable AI and machine-learning models.”
“I need lethal machine-learning models, not equitable ones,” Hegseth joked in the video.
Also eliminated were $30 million in external consulting fees with Gartner and McKinsey for unused licenses and technology-related costs, according to Hegseth.
“They’re working hard, and we’re working hard with them,” Hegseth remarked about DOGE. “And we have much more to come.”
Hegseth has been a strong advocate for Elon Musk’s DOGE initiative to identify cost savings within the sprawling federal bureaucracy.
Before being sworn in as the head of the Pentagon, Hegseth vowed to work toward ensuring the Department of Defense could pass an audit.
Last year, the DoD failed its seventh consecutive audit.
The Pentagon manages the largest budget of any federal agency, with Congress allocating $825 billion for the military in the last fiscal year.
The DoD employs over 2 million people.
Hegseth did not provide further details about the $580 million in cuts he claims to have made through his work with DOGE.
