Trump says DOGE will 'find hundreds of billions of dollars' of waste in the Pentagon—Hegseth says all unwisely spent funds will go 'toward warfighters'

President Donald Trump stated that he expects Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to uncover “hundreds of billions of dollars” of fraud and waste within the federal government, including the Pentagon.

In a Super Bowl interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump outlined his plans for Musk’s oversight.  "I'm going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. ... Then I'm going to go, go to the military. Let's check the military,” Trump said.

"We're going to find billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse," he added.

The Pentagon’s budget nears $1 trillion annually, with President Joe Biden signing a defense spending bill in December authorizing $895 billion for the fiscal year.

In a separate interview with Fox News, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth backed Trump’s stance, saying, "American taxpayers deserve to know exactly how and where their money is being spent.” He emphasized that the Pentagon should be able to pass an audit and vowed to make financial transparency a priority.

"In a world where America is $37 trillion in debt, resources will not be unlimited — so every dollar we can find that isn't being spent wisely is one we can put toward warfighters,” Hegseth said.

National Security Adviser Mike Waltz also addressed the issue in an interview on Meet the Press, highlighting concerns about Pentagon waste and claiming that the American people want the federal government to cut back on bloat and waste. Waltz was questioned about Musk’s role in overseeing government spending cuts, given that Musk’s companies hold federal contracts. Musk has been tasked with identifying inefficiencies and reducing government waste, a move that has drawn criticism from the left due to his team’s access to various agency systems.

Defending the initiative, Waltz said, “The American people have said enough with the bloat and the waste and the debt, and when we have a trillion dollars of interest in our debt that’s exceeded our entire defense budget, we do need great minds and we do need business leaders to go in there an absolutely reform the Pentagon’s acquisition process.”

He also pointed to Pentagon shipbuilding as one potential area for review, calling it “an absolute mess.”