Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth initiated a sweeping overhaul of Pentagon operations Wednesday, issuing a trio of memorandums designed to slash wasteful spending, streamline bureaucracy, and refocus the Department of Defense (DoD) on its core mission of “restoring the warrior ethos,” a directive he said came directly from President Trump.
The moves, which target non-essential IT and consulting contracts, the use of executive assistants, and the weapons testing process, are part of a broader push to enhance efficiency and lethality.
“When President Trump asked me to serve as the Secretary of Defense, he gave all of us and me the mission of restoring the warrior ethos. And we’re focused on that every single day,” Hegseth stated Wednesday. He announced that these and prior cost-cutting initiatives, undertaken in coordination with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have already resulted in “over 10 billion dollars in real savings.”
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Hegseth elaborated on the problem, stating, “Part of what we’ve uncovered is that the defense department has become very much over reliant on management Consultants and contractors. We found that we likely have more contractors than we have civilian employees. And many of them, those contractors, are making more money than our career, senior executive employees.”
As a concrete example, Hegseth highlighted a joint effort between the Air Force and DOGE. “The Air Force, working as a team with Doge, cut that Department’s largest management consulting program. This joint team conducted a line by line audit of over 50 contract vehicles, saving a billion dollars on the current program… and canceling its 3.8 billion dollar extension.” He noted that reviews over just the past two weeks yielded “more than 5 billion dollars in savings,” adding to a previous $5 billion.
To spearhead the review of these contracts, Hegseth has empowered the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Steve Feinberg, a man with Decades of practical executive experience in the private sector, to work with the services and DOGE to review all of our Consulting contracts. Deputy Secretary Feinberg will now personally approve any additional non-DoD IT or consulting contracts.
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The goal, Hegseth emphasized, is to “replace wasteful spending in favor of a culture focused on… actual financial responsibility and stewardship, so that our limited funds are spent better on, you know? Things like health care and mission-related programs for our War Fighters and their families.”
The three memos signed by Hegseth address these concerns directly:
- Reducing Consultants: The first memo “responsibly reduces the number of management Consultants and contractors,” whom Hegseth described as “giving us PowerPoints that we need less of,” stressing the need for “more actual application.”
- Reforming Executive Assistant Use: The second “lays out needed reforms to the Department’s usage of executive assistants,” with a focus on “proper ratios.”
- Streamlining Weapons Testing (ODOT&E): The third memo “restructures the Department’s operational and test evaluation office, which will make testing and Fielding weapons more efficient so that warfighters get what they need faster.” Hegseth added, “These are changes, especially that last one, that they [the services] really want in order to go faster with the capabilities that they need.”
One of the most significant changes detailed in a May 27th memo is the dramatic reorganization of the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (ODOT&E). Key changes include eliminating redundant functions, drastically reducing the staff to 30 civilians and 15 military personnel through a reduction-in-force (RIF), placing current SES leadership on administrative leave, appointing Mr. Carroll P. Quade as Acting Director, and halting contractor support. These actions at ODOT&E alone are projected to save “more than $300 million per year.”
The memo on Executive Assistants outlines strict allocation limits, mandates consolidation of EA contracting under Washington Headquarters Services by September 30, 2025, and caps contractor EA rates at 80% of the principal’s salary.
A third memo, implementing Executive Order 14222 from the Department of Government Efficiency, further tightens controls on IT consulting and advisory services contracts, requiring Deputy Secretary approval and prioritizing in-house expertise. It also mandates optimization of the civilian-contractor workforce mix and greater use of GSA procurement vehicles.
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“We’re committed to reducing bloated bureaucracy and wasteful spending in favor of increased lethality,” Hegseth declared. “That’s a trade-off I will take every single day. Converting Consultants into combat power. That’s what we’re doing here at the defense department.”
These comprehensive measures signal a determined effort by Secretary Hegseth to reshape the Pentagon’s spending habits and operational culture, reallocating resources towards enhancing the military’s core mission capabilities.
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