President Trump’s Secretary of Defence, Pete Hegseth, posted a video that exposed a shocking $800 million in wasteful spending within the Department of Defense (DOD). Much money went to woke causes like developing ‘equitable’ AI and engaging with BIPOC students instead of the vital technologies that protect our soldiers.
Hegseth explained that the DOD is wasting money on useless woke policies instead of on the programs needed to win wars. He says this waste is offensive to President Trump and his cabinet. Hegseth promised that there would be more sweeping changes to come.
DOD Rapid Response, a Twitter account that acts on behalf of Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth, issued a statement explaining their findings on March 22, 2025. They said, ” 👀👀 @DOGE and @elonmusk just found another $580M in wasteful spending?! In less than a month, that’s nearly $800M found so far…..More to come!”
In response, DOGE replied to the post. They said, “Great work by @SecDef. Over $580M in wasteful contracts and grants terminated this week, including an HR IT development program called DCHRMS that is $280 million (780%) over budget and 5 years behind schedule, with at least two more years to go.”
Under the original post, Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth posted a lengthy video explaining the situation. He began his remarks by announcing a massive $580 Million in cutbacks. He said, “We’re back with another quick update on our efforts to cut wasteful spending quickly at the Department of Defense so we can get the dollars to the things that the warfighters need. So today, I’m signing a memo directing the termination of over $580 million in DOD contracts and grants that do not match the priorities of this president or this department.”
He found one contract almost 8 times over budget; Hegseth said, “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. So here’s quickly what we’re canceling today. 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% over budget.”
Hegseth also committed to getting woke policies out of the military. He said, “We’re not doing that anymore. Number two, another batch of DOD grants, $360 million worth this time decarbonizing emissions from Navy ships, part of the Obama-Biden green agenda. That’s 6 million bucks, $5.2 million on something that would diversify and engage the Navy by engaging underrepresented BOPOC Students and Scholars.”
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The previous administration wasted millions on woke policies. He added, “Another $9 million at a university is needed to approach equitable AI and machine learning models. I need lethal machine learning models, not equitable machine learning models. And number three, in our ongoing effort to cut wasteful spending on external consulting services, 30 million bucks in contracts with Gartner and McKinsey… So when you add it, $580 million in DOD Contracts and Grants, DOGE is helping us cut today.”
He calculated the total amount spent and promised to continue cutting waste. He said, “What does that bring our total number up? 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 warfighters have what they need by cutting the waste, fraud, and abuse. They’re working hard… We’re going to keep going for you guys.”
Featured image from embedded video