Hegeseth
© Allison Robbert/AFP/Getty ImagesDefense Secretary Pete Hegeseth
Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth has announced over $580 million in cuts to Department of Defense contracts as the Pentagon has been working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to cut wasteful spending.

Hegseth said on Thursday, "We're back with another quick update on our efforts to cut wasteful spending and cut it quickly at the Department of Defense so we get the dollars to the things that the war fighters need. So today I'm signing a memo directing the termination of over $580 million in DoD contracts, in grants that do not match the priorities of this president or this department."
"In other words, they are not a good use of taxpayer dollars. Ultimately, that's who funds us. We owe you transparency and making sure we're using it well," Hegseth added. The Defense Secretary then went over several of the contracts cut in line-by-line fashion, explaining what was happening and why programs were getting cut.

"There's an HR software effort that was supposed to take a year and cost $36 million but instead it's taken eight years and is currently $280 million over budget, not delivering what it was supposed to. So that's 780 percent over budget. We're not doing that anymore," Hegseth said.

"Another batch of DoD grants, $360 million worth this time," Hegeseth said. He then explained a few of the grants, saying that $6 million was going to "decarbonizing emissions from Navy ships" which was "part of the Obama-Biden green agenda."

He added that there was $5.2 million which was going to a DEI program and then said another $9 million was going to a university "to approach equitable AI and machine learning models." Hegseth quipped, "I need lethal machine learning models, not equitable machine learning models."

$30 million has also been cut from spending going to consulting companies McKinsey & Co, as well as Gartner Consulting.

"Total cuts, running total $800 million in wasteful spending canceled over the first few weeks as DoD partners with DOGE here to make sure that our war fighters have what they need by cutting the waste, fraud and abuse, they're working hard. We're working hard with them," Hegseth added. He concluded that statement saying that the DoD has "a lot more coming" regarding cuts to spending.