Pentagon: $80M in savings found in initial DOGE scrutiny

SUMMARY

The Pentagon’s kicking off a budget trim with Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), spotting $80 million in what it calls wasteful spending. Press Secretary Sean Parnell spilled the beans in a Monday night X video, reading from a yet-to-be-released list heavy on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs and climate research. Think $1.9 million for Air Force DEI training, $6 million to the University of Montana for “bridging divides,” $3.5 million for DEI groups, and $1.6 million for a University of Florida climate study in Africa. “This isn’t what the military’s about,” Parnell said, calling it a distraction from the core mission. He hinted more cuts are coming soon. DOGE rolled into the Pentagon mid-February, welcomed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who’s been itching to tackle waste. Critics, though, say $80 million’s a drop in the bucket next to the Pentagon’s $850 billion budget—barely 0.001 percent.