National security adviser Mike Waltz argued the U.S. Department of Defense is desperately in need of reform by the Department of Government Efficiency, which has begun implementing cost-cutting measures across the federal government.

Following DOGE’s exposure of wasteful spending by the U.S. Agency of International Development last week, the agency, headed by X owner and billionaire Elon Musk, is seeking to help the Trump administration find similar wasteful spending within the DOD. Waltz argued the DOD needs to be looked at by DOGE, as everything at the agency seems to be too expensive and also “deliver too little” to the nation’s soldiers.

“I, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, held up a bag of bolts that would cost $100 in a hardware store that cost $90,000 to the U.S. Air Force, and the American people have said ‘enough,’ enough with the bloat and the waste and the debt,” Waltz said on NBC News’s Meet the Press. “And when we have $1 trillion of interest in our debt that’s exceeded our entire defense budget, we do need great minds and we do need business leaders to go in there and absolutely reform the Pentagon’s acquisition process.”

When pressed about any conflicts of interest that could be at stake with Musk’s investments in contracts with the DOD, Waltz contended that the “appropriate firewalls” would be set in place to prevent this.

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Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth expressed excitement to work on cutting waste at the DOD, as it is “long overdue.” An audit on the department and the Pentagon would provide “simple accounting” on where the taxpayer money is going, he said.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem similarly dismissed concerns about Musk having access to her department, as a proper audit of the government “needs to happen.”