The Pentagon has been largely spared from major Department of Government Efficiency cuts thus far. Peter Schweizer, president of the Government Accountability Institute, sees a sacred cow being ignored.
In a recent interview with the National News Desk, Schweizer said, “The reality is that the kind of waste we’re seeing in government agencies happens in the Pentagon — even more so. Part of it is there is this sacred cow that is protected. There are a lot of members of Congress who have special projects that are in their congressional districts.”
That includes the F-35 fighter jet, made by Lockheed Martin, which has a two trillion dollar price tag, despite being used less and less by the military.
Schweizer continued, “The reality is today we have basically 10 percent of the fighting men and women that we did in World War II, but we have more four-star generals and admirals now than we did then.”
In January, President Trump fired the DOD Inspector General, whose job it was to oversee spending at the department, raising concerns from government watchdogs that top Pentagon officials continue to operate as if the rules don’t apply to them.
Schweizer commented: “They kind of avoid scrutiny because of this political consensus that we need to have a strong national defense. But the reality is, as in education, just because you spend more money doesn’t mean you get a better product.”