Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said he’s been in touch with Elon Musk and would welcome his unofficial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) financial analysts going through the books at the Pentagon to curtail wasteful government spending.

Speaking to reporters in Germany during his first overseas trip as defense secretary, Mr. Hegseth on Tuesday said he believed a DOGE audit would uncover examples of waste and abuse within the sprawling Pentagon bureaucracy.

“There’s just no doubt. Look at a lot of the climate programs that have been pursued at the Defense Department,” Mr. Hegseth said. “The Defense Department is not in the business of climate change and solving the global thermostat. We’re in the business of deterring and winning wars.”

However, he noted that the Defense Department is not the U.S. Agency for International Development, which has come under intense scrutiny by the Trump administration and could be on the verge of being shut down for good.

“USAID has got a lot of problems with their troops pursuing globalist agendas that don’t have a connection to ’America First,’” Mr. Hegseth said. “That’s not the Defense Department, but we’re also not perfect either.”

The DOGE analysts might examine the Defense Department’s weapons procurement programs, Mr. Hegseth said.

“There are plenty of places where we want the keen eye of DOGE, but we’ll do it in coordination,” Mr. Hegseth said. “We are not going to do things that are to the detriment of American operations or tactical capabilities.”

Mr. Hegseth on Wednesday will become the first member of the new Trump administration to visit NATO, taking part in a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at NATO’s Brussels headquarters. Former Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin set up the main international forum for coordinating and encouraging arms and ammunition support for Ukraine in 2022.

Over the last three years, around 50 countries have collectively provided Ukraine more than $126 billion in weapons and military assistance. But in a first, the meeting will be convened by another country, the United Kingdom, not the United States, the Associated Press reported.

The Pentagon’s budget for fiscal year 2025 is more than $850 billion — a 3% increase from 2024. While he supports a DOGE audit of the Defense Department, Mr. Hegseth said Congress needs to appropriate additional funding for the military.

“The U.S. needs to spend more than the Biden administration was willing to do. Historically, it underinvested in the capabilities of our military,” he said.

While cost-cutting may be the order of the day, Mr. Hegseth said he doesn’t want the Defense Department’s budget to dip below 3% of GDP — and Mr. Trump has pressed U.S. allies abroad to shoot for a 5% or GDP target for their defense budgets.

“For every dollar we save, there is one dollar that goes for warfighters,” he said. “That’s good for the American people.”

• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.