There are currently about a dozen DOGE staffers who are based out of the Pentagon, “dedicated to helping Secretary Hegseth execute on his priorities to make the Department a more efficient steward of taxpayer dollars since the team was established in February,” Pentagon press secretary Kingsley Wilson told the Washington Examiner.

They have identified and eliminated roughly $15 billion of what they believe are wasteful contracts since February, according to a Pentagon official. When this effort began, the department said it wanted to find $50 billion in contracts to eliminate.

Unlike with other federal agencies that have been downsized, the Pentagon is focused on reallocating much of that money into technologies, weapons, and programs that officials say more closely align with the Trump administration’s priorities.

REFORMING THE DEEP STATE: REINING IN THE FEDERAL BUREAUCRACY

The Trump administration is looking for Congress to pass the U.S.’s first-ever trillion-dollar defense budget. The bump amounts to a roughly 13% increase in defense spending for Fiscal Year 2026.

Specifically, the department’s request is for $848.2 billion, a slight decrease from last year, but the department is relying on $113.3 billion included in reconciliation, bringing the total to $961.6 billion. In total, the reconciliation bill from congress allocated a total of $150 billion for national security.

“This is consistent with what we’re seeing across the government,” former acting State Department Inspector General Diana Shaw told the Washington Examiner. “The Administration is reducing spending in areas that do not align with its priorities but appears willing to increase spending in areas where doing so advances its policy agenda, particularly in critical areas like national security. Trade enforcement is another arena where we see the Administration willing to spend more to advance its priorities despite a general interest in cutting spending across government.”

Similarly, Greg Williams, director of the Center for Defense Information at the Project On Government Oversight, told the Washington Examiner that the “small reductions” they’ve made “are completely eclipsed by large increases” for other programs.

Hegseth signed a memo on May 27 that outlined new review processes for proposed contracts in areas that officials have uncovered the most waste.

Military components are no longer allowed to execute new information technology (IT) consulting and management services without demonstrating why existing DoW personnel can’t do it and justifying why it can’t be acquired directly from the service provider. The Deputy Secretary of War is the official who will approve or deny such a request based on a submitted cost-benefit analysis.

On June 23, Michael Duffey, the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment (USD(A&S)), signed a subsequent memo that directs DOGE to review and provide input for specific contract requests.

As a part of the memorandum, DOGE reviews potential contracts in the Information Technology Consulting and Management Services (ITC&MS) domain valued at more than $10 million and any Advisory and Assistance Services (A&AS) contract that will exceed $1 million.

“Reforming the antiquated defense acquisition processes is a long-recognized problem that has received bipartisan support, and we are taking swift action to fix it at the President’s direction,” Wilson added. “Department leadership is rapidly working to implement the President’s Executive Orders on Defense Acquisition and on Government Efficiency, which together will eliminate contracting inefficiency that undermines our warfighters and hurts U.S. taxpayers. This is how we will rebuild the military with necessary speed while ensuring taxpayer dollars are spent wisely in the process.”

Shaw said the department’s efforts “may have reduced DOD spending in the short-term,” but said it’s unclear whether that will “result in long-term efficiencies.”

Shaw said she anticipates DOGE’s activities will begin to be featured in inspector general oversight projects “perhaps as soon as the 2026 fiscal year.”

As the Pentagon works to reform its acquisition process, it is also trying to modernize its equipment and move away from its older legacy systems that are not believed to be as necessary in a future conflict.

Hegseth has prioritized using the military to defend the homeland, and as a part of the administration’s interagency effort to end drug smuggling and illegal immigration into the country. Simultaneously, the Trump administration has followed the U.S. military’s intended pivot away from the Middle East to focus on the Pacific region.

WEST POINT IS A CASE STUDY IN THE BUREAUCRACY’S UNACCOUNTABILITY

Conflicts across the globe over recent years have demonstrated the proliferation of various types of drones, raising concerns that the U.S. is not leading in the field of drone technology and that the U.S. is not prepared to defend against these growing threats.

Hegseth, in late August, directed the Secretary of the Army to formally establish the Joint Interagency Task Force 401 to coordinate the department’s counter-drone strategy.

“We’re moving fast – cutting through bureaucracy, consolidating resources, and empowering this task force with the utmost authority to outpace our adversaries,” Secretary Hegseth said. “Make no mistake – under this administration and President Trump’s leadership, we will innovate, we will lead, and we will win.”

His creation of the task force came a month after he announced a plan to surge the fielding of small drones across the entire military.