Where To Cut Pentagon Waste?
Senior Video Producer Khody Akhavi & Democratizing Foreign Policy Director Ben Freeman / Quincy Institute

(April 8, 2025) — The newly minted Department of Government Efficiency is taking a buzzsaw to red tape. They’re promising a leaner, faster and better government. But when are the cost-cutters going to take a hard look at the largest government bureaucracy: the Pentagon. With an annual budget of $800 billion dollars and nearly 3 million employees, there are plenty of big ticket items to focus on, including the F-35 fighter project, excess military bases, and waste, fraud, and abuse among government contractors. Quincy Institute is an independent, nonprofit think tank.

Elon Musk Stands to Get Even Richer as
Trump Backs $1 Trillion Pentagon Budget
Interview with Senior Research Fellow William Hartung / Democracy Now

(April 9, 2025) — As federal agencies face crippling cuts and are forced to cut essential services, President Trump has announced he will seek a $1 trillion budget for the Pentagon, a record-setting number that would mark the highest level of U.S. defense spending since World War II.

William Hartung, a senior research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, blasts the promised budget as “completely unnecessary” and says that “almost the only beneficiaries are going to be the weapons manufacturers.” Hartung also discusses the growing political influence of Silicon Valley defense technology startups, including Alex Karp’s Palantir and Elon Musk’s SpaceX.