A former Department of Defense insider revealed Monday that Tesla CEO Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are “sending shockwaves” through the Pentagon as the Trump administration takes steps to eliminate “waste, fraud, and abuse” at the Department of Defense.
During a Monday interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo, Steve Simoni, the CEO of Allen Control Systems and a former Navy nuclear engineer with the Department of Defense, said it was “no surprise” that DOGE is examining the department for “waste, fraud, and abuse.” Simoni told Bartiromo that he expects DOGE to uncover “all kinds of wasteful spending” at the Pentagon.
Addressing the recent report of DOGE meeting with officials from the Department of Defense, Simoni said, “It’s actually sending shockwaves through the department right now.”
As an example of waste, Simoni explained that when he was working with the Department of Defense, the Pentagon was spending $10,000 on “ruggedized” HDMI cables when the HDMI cables could have been purchased for “$20 or $30 at Best Buy.”
Simoni added, “We need to get more efficient with our spending, because there’s a massive threat of drones that are proliferating on the battlefield right now, and the new administration, Secretary [Pete] Hegseth knows this.”
READ MORE: Trump demands ‘radical transparency’ as DOGE exposes ‘wasteful spending’ in US gov’t
During Monday’s interview on Fox Business, Simoni suggested that after eliminating waste at the Pentagon, the Department of Defense could “reallocate a lot of the capital they’re spending” to purchase products needed for what he described as the “battlefield of the future,” especially for shooting down drones.
Simoni claimed that drones are the “primary issue of our time” and warned that China is currently “dominating with their manufacturing” and producing “one drone per second.” The former Navy nuclear engineer also claimed that while Americans initially treated drones as “toys,” drones have become “weapons of war.”
“We’re actually very vulnerable right now, and we need to have solutions to be able to take these drone threats out,” Simoni told Bartiromo.
Last Friday, DOGE released a statement on X, formerly Twitter, announcing that the department had taken the first steps to eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse” by holding a meeting with Defense Department officials at the Pentagon.
“Great kickoff with @DeptofDefense,” DOGE officials tweeted. “Looking forward to working together to safely save taxpayer dollars and eliminate waste, fraud and abuse.”
