The Department of Defense is projecting $80 million in savings thanks to initial efforts by its Department of Government Efficiency, according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, as per Bloomberg.
In a video released Monday evening, Parnell, the assistant to the secretary of Defense for public affairs, highlighted specific contracts related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and climate resiliency as examples of wasteful spending.
Parnell identified $13 million in projects targeted for review. Among them, he cited a $1.9 million Air Force investment in “holistic DEI transformation and training,” and a $6 million grant awarded to the University of Montana to “strengthen American democracy by bridging divides.”
The spokesman also pointed to $3.5 million in “support to DEI groups” from the Defense Human Resources Activity, and a $1.6 million award to the University of Florida for a study examining the “social and institutional detriments of vulnerability and resilience to climate hazards in African Sahel.”
“This stuff is just not a core function of our military,” Parnell stated in the video, characterizing the contracts as a “distraction” from the DoD’s primary mission. “Today’s actions are just the start.”
Parnell also pledged further work in the coming weeks to “trim the fat, preserve the muscle, make the DoD more mission capable and more lethal.”
This review comes as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth outlined plans in a memo last month to reduce projected US military spending by 8% over the next five years. T
