Defense Secretary Pete Hegses said he is welcoming Elon Musk's “Doctor of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).
Hegseth joined Maria Bartiromo, a former colleague at Fox News, on Sunday Morning Futures. His department said Work independently and alongside Doge, working to assess the large budgets of the department.
“We need to know when to spend the dollars. We need to know where they are heading and why,” Hegses said. “It's simple accounting and it doesn't exist in the Department of Defense.
“We're going to fix it, but it's not even a doge,” he continued. “So we welcome Elon Musk and Doge to come to our department and help us identify additional ways to streamline the process.”
Hegus was one of Trump's more controversial candidates, but he was one of the first confirmed in the Senate through a tiebreaker vote from Vice President Vance. He promised to let the Pentagon pass a clean audit after several consecutive failures in the department.
He pointed out that the Marines have passed a clean audit over the past two years, which he praises, but said it must be a department-wide issue. Hegseth also highlighted the country's debt, saying that every dollar should be spent wisely, particularly for the Department of Defense (DOD) mission.
“So I'm welcoming Doge with Dod,” he repeated. “We're going to partner with them, but that's been behind for a long time.”
While researching the budget, Baltiromo asked Hegses if the department would modernize resources.
“Modernization is a very important part of what we're doing at DOD,” he said, adding that the 2026 fiscal budget will focus on national borders and air protection.
