In a bold move aimed at streamlining government expenditures, US President Donald Trump has authorized audits of the Department of Defense and the Department of Education. The task has been assigned to none other than Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur and head of the newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Musk, known for his leadership at SpaceX, Tesla, and X (formerly Twitter), has been granted the role of a “special government employee” and is now one of Trump’s key advisors in an aggressive bid to reduce federal spending by up to $2 trillion by July 2026.

The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), despite its official-sounding name, is not a permanent executive department but rather a temporary entity dedicated to aggressive cost-cutting measures. The Trump administration has repeatedly stressed the need to eliminate wasteful spending, and Musk has been tasked with ensuring that the Pentagon and the Department of Education undergo comprehensive budget reviews.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on February 7, Trump confirmed Musk’s growing role in the administration’s financial overhaul efforts.

“I’ve instructed him to go check out education, to check out the Pentagon, which is the military, and sadly, you’ll find some things that are pretty bad, but I don’t think proportionately, you’re going to see anything like we just saw,” Trump remarked. The president’s comments suggest that recent investigations have already uncovered significant financial mismanagement elsewhere in the government, fueling expectations that similar inefficiencies will be found in the defense and education budgets.

The Pentagon has historically struggled with financial accountability, with multiple failed audits over the years. In 2018, the Department of Defense underwent its first full-scale audit, which revealed........

© Blitz