Trump taps Elon Musk to overhaul Pentagon, government spending

On February 7, President Donald Trump announced that he had directed billionaire Elon Musk to spearhead an ambitious initiative to reduce federal spending, focusing on the Pentagon and other government agencies.

The initiative, led by Musk’s team, aims to eliminate waste, fraud, and inefficiencies within the U.S. government, with Musk’s role rapidly expanding as part of a broader effort to shrink the federal bureaucracy, Caliber.Az reports via foreign media.

At a White House news conference, Trump revealed that Musk would also be examining the Education Department, signalling a broader examination of various agencies, including the Treasury and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, among others. The initiative has already seen Musk’s aides insert themselves into at least 17 federal agencies, a move that has raised both praise and concern.

Musk’s team, composed mainly of young and inexperienced operatives, has faced backlash for some of its members’ past actions. One aide, Marko Elez, a 25-year-old former employee of X, resigned after it was revealed that he had made racist posts on the platform. Musk, however, defended Elez, calling for the reporter who broke the story to be fired and reinstating the aide, a decision supported by both Trump and Vice President JD Vance.

Further controversy surrounds Edward Coristine, another Musk aide, who was fired in June 2022 after an internal investigation at his former company, Path Network, found evidence of leaking proprietary information. Musk’s defenders argue that these young aides are part of a larger mission to root out corruption within the government, despite the scrutiny they face.

The initiative faced a temporary setback when a federal judge put on hold an effort to put U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) staff on administrative leave. Despite this, both Trump and Musk appear resolute in their mission to cut budgets and eliminate inefficiencies. Musk’s team has already identified large amounts of waste within USAID, but Trump has indicated that he does not anticipate a similar scale of cuts at the Pentagon, which houses the largest discretionary budget in the federal government.

Critics have raised concerns over potential conflicts of interest due to Musk’s business dealings with the Pentagon. His companies, including SpaceX, rely on billions of dollars in government contracts, including a $3 billion deal spanning 100 contracts across 17 federal agencies. When questioned about these concerns, Trump insisted that any potential conflicts would be addressed, though he expressed no hesitation in moving forward with Musk’s involvement.

Trump has consistently praised Musk’s team, calling them “smart people” doing a necessary job to dismantle corruption within the federal government. He also mocked media coverage, including a new Time magazine cover featuring Musk in the Oval Office, defending Musk’s actions as part of a long-awaited effort to reshape the U.S. government.

By Vugar Khalilov