The Department of Defense can save as much as $80,000,000 in wasted spending if it eliminates a few diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs.
In a social media video, DOD spokesperson Sean Parnell stated that the Defense Department and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency have been working together to reduce wasteful expenditures.
Parnell listed the DOGE’s initial findings, which included millions of dollars for various DEI training and transformation programs in the Air Force and six million dollars to the University of Montana to “strengthen American Democracy by bridging divisions.”
One of the first findings was the award of $1.6M to the University of Florida for the study of the vulnerability of resilience in Africa to climate hazards.
“This stuff is just not a core function of our military,” Parnell said. “This is not what we do. This stuff is a distraction from our core mission.”
He added, “We think these preliminary findings could save us $80,000,000 in wasted spending.”
After initially instructing them not to reply, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth instructed DOD civilian workers to respond to Musk’s DOGE Productivity email by listing five achievements.
Hegseth announced last week that his agency will work with DOGE, a group of experts who have conducted audits of departments such as the Treasury, Labor, Education and Health, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Office of Personnel Management and Internal Revenue Service.
He said that DOGE employees are often veterans and that it’s a good thing that they find flaws.
Hegseth stated, “They care like us, in finding the redundancies, and identifying the last vestiges Biden’s priorities- DEI, woke, climate change B.S. That’s not central to our mission, and we will get rid of all of it.”
DOGE is under fire. Some claim that President Donald Trump gave Musk access to sensitive information and too much freedom.