Trump: Musk to Find Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Fraud in the Pentagon

(Patria) - U.S. President Donald Trump said he expects Elon Musk to uncover hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud and abuse in the Pentagon during a review he will lead, Reuters reported.

“I’m going to tell him very soon, maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education... Then I’ll go, go to the military. Let’s check the military,” Trump said in an interview for the Super Bowl.

“We’re going to find billions, hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud and abuse,” Trump said of the largest federal department.

The Pentagon’s budget is approaching a trillion dollars a year. In December, then-President Joe Biden signed a law authorizing $895 billion in defense spending for the fiscal year ending September 30.

Musk, whom the White House says is a special government employee, has been tasked by Trump with leading efforts to reduce the size of the U.S. federal workforce. As part of that initiative, Musk’s associates have sought access to confidential information in computer systems across various government agencies. Critics say these efforts are likely illegal, risk exposing classified information, and in practice are dismantling entire agencies without congressional approval.

National Security Advisor Mike Waltz suggested in a separate interview on Sunday that the Pentagon’s shipbuilding processes could be an area of particular interest for the Department of Government Efficiency, and generally characterized the Pentagon as full of unnecessary bloat.

“Everything there seems to cost too much, take too long, and deliver too little to the troops... We need business leaders to go in there and absolutely reform the Pentagon’s acquisition process,” Waltz said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

“There’s a lot to investigate in shipbuilding, and it’s an absolute mess,” Waltz added.

Leaders across the political spectrum have long criticized Pentagon waste and inefficiency. However, Democrats and civil service unions say Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency lacks the expertise to restructure the Pentagon, and that their efforts could expose classified programs.

Musk’s companies have large contracts with the Pentagon, which has raised significant concerns about conflicts of interest.