Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo that he expects to uncover “hundreds of billions” in “wasteful spending” at the Defense Department.
During an interview on Sunday Morning Futures, Hegseth told his former colleague that he welcomes Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to come help cut “wasteful spending” inside the department.
Moreover, Hegseth noted that he plans to modernize the Defense Department with a missle defense system similar to Israel’s Iron Dome.
BARTIROMO: Tell us about this upcoming look at the spending at the Defense Department. Should we expect hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending there?
HEGSETH: Unfortunately, I think so. And we very much the president is right. He’s setting the pace. And he is also correct that American taxpayers deserve to know exactly how and where their money is spent. The fact that I have to commit, Maria, to an audit being done in four years is bad enough. The Pentagon should be able to pass a budget right now.
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We we know in a world where America’s, you know, $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 war fighter. So we welcome those at DOD. We will partner with them. And it’s long overdue. The Defense Department’s got a huge budget, but it needs to be responsible.
BARTIROMO: All of this as you’re also looking to modernize. President Trump told me he’d like to call it a golden sphere. I know we talked Iron Dome because Israel has that. Will this spawn a whole new effort to modernize and bring new innovation into the U.S. military? Well, was a plan.
HEGSETH: It’s a great question. Modernization is an incredibly important part of what we’re doing at DOD. Take our nuclear triad, for example. As you know, Russia’s got a massive nuclear arsenal. China is racing to build theirs quickly. Hundreds of new nuclear weapons year by year. We need to update our nuclear triad on land and sea and on air. But that also includes the Iron Dome, Iron Dome or Golden Dome, whatever you want to call it. We have embraced the executive order of President Trump. We’re going to ensure it’s included in reconciliation money in the f y 26, all our budgets going forward to invest in the ability, Maria, get this novel idea to defend our homeland.
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Hegseth’s former colleague — Fox News chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin — noted in a post on X that the entire defense department budget is $850 billion. So “hundreds of billions” in wasteful spending would constitute at least 20 percent of the entire Department of Defense budget.
Watch the clip above via Fox News.