Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the Department of Defense is terminating $5.1 billion in contracts tied to consulting, duplicative technology services, DEI, climate, COVID-19 response and other nonessential activities.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that the Department of Defense is terminating $5.1 billion in contracts identified through the department’s DOGE review effort, saying the cuts are aimed at redirecting money away from consulting and nonessential services and back into military priorities.
In a video announcement, Hegseth said the canceled contracts include consulting agreements, software and information technology services, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs, climate initiatives, COVID-19 response work and other activities the administration considers duplicative or unnecessary.
“Right now, we’re directing the termination of $5.1 billion in DoD contracts. Not million—that’s with a ‘B.’ $5.1 billion in DoD contracts for ancillary things like consulting and other nonessential services,” Hegseth said.
Among the largest savings, Hegseth said, are Defense Health Agency consulting contracts involving firms including Accenture, Deloitte, Booz Allen and others. He said canceling those agreements will save the department about $1.8 billion.
“So, here are a few examples: DHA contracts for consulting services from Accenture, Deloitte, Booz Allen, and other firms. They’re going to save the department $1.8 billion,” Hegseth said.
The department is also ending a software reseller contract tied to enterprise cloud IT services, which Hegseth said will save $1.4 billion.
“How about a software reseller contract for enterprise cloud IT services, saving the department $1.4 billion?” he said.
Hegseth also pointed to a $500 million Navy contract for business process consulting connected to administrative offices in the Bureau of Medicine. He said those funds should be used to improve health care for service members and their families rather than pay outside consultants.
“A $500 million Navy contract for business process consulting. Again, process. Lots of process. Lots of consultants,” Hegseth said.
“For administrative offices in the Bureau of Medicine. By the way, we need this money to spend on better healthcare for our warfighters and their families instead of paying $500-an-hour business process consultants. That’s a lot of consulting,” he said.
Another $500 million in savings will come from canceling a DARPA IT help desk contract that Hegseth said overlaps with services already performed by the Defense Information Systems Agency workforce.
“How about this? A DARPA contract for IT help desk services that are completely duplicative of services already provided by our DISA workforce, saving the department another $500 million,” Hegseth said.
The defense secretary said the Pentagon is also ending 11 contracts tied to DEI, climate, COVID-19 response and related nonessential programs.
“We’re also terminating, on the DEI front, 11 more contracts for DEI, climate, COVID-19 response, and related nonessential activities across the department,” Hegseth said.
“We are committed to rooting out DEI, root and branch, throughout this department, and we found 11 more contracts. We’re going to keep looking,” he added.
Hegseth said the newly announced cancellations bring the department’s latest round of cuts to $5.1 billion.
“So that’s $5.1 billion in DoD contracts we’re getting rid of,” he said.
In addition to the contract terminations, Hegseth said the Pentagon is pausing more than $500 million in funding to Northwestern University and Cornell University. He said the move supports President Donald Trump’s priority of stopping federal funding to academic institutions that tolerate antisemitism or support divisive DEI programs.
“On top of that, in support of the president’s priorities to stop federal funding for academic institutions that tolerate antisemitism and support divisive DEI programs, this week DoD is also pausing over $500 million in funding to Northwestern University and Cornell University,” Hegseth said.
“And that’s on top of the $70 million in funding we’ve already paused at Columbia, Penn, Brown, and Princeton over the last few weeks,” he added.
“As if any of these institutions need more government money at all,” Hegseth said.
The defense secretary said the latest round of cuts brings the total savings from the department’s DOGE-backed review to nearly $6 billion during its first six weeks.
“So, if you’re keeping score at home, today’s cuts bring our running total to nearly $6 billion in wasteful spending over the first six weeks of the DoD-DOGE effort here at the Defense Department,” Hegseth said.
He said the purpose of the review is to identify spending that can be eliminated and redirect those funds toward military capability.
“Their job is to go out and find the stuff that we can get rid of and then flow back into—drive back into—warfighting capabilities here at the Defense Department,” Hegseth said.
“So, we want to thank our friends at DOGE. We want to thank all the folks here that have contributed to this effort,” he added.
A video of Hegseth’s remarks was shared in an X post.
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