Defense Minister Pete Hegseth has announced the deletion of “wasteful” expenditure of his resort of $ 5.1 billion (4.47 billion euros). Contracts for measures for diversity, equality and inclusion (Dei), for climate protection and protection against the coronavirus, as Hegseth announced in a video on Thursday, are affected by the cuts. There are also various contracts on consulting services and a contract for cloud-it services. DEI programs were also affected by the previous deletions. In the video, Hegseth confirmed his project to “exterminate” programs from the era of former President Joe Biden. In his use by conservative circles, “Woke” is a negative concept for alleged excesses of left-wing politics, for example in the area of funding for minorities. According to his string course, Hegseth claims to work closely with the department for state efficiency (Doge) founded with the participation of the presidential consultant and tech multimal. At an earlier point in time, Hegseth had said that Doge had “comprehensive access” in the Pentagon. The Depe Department, founded by President Donald Trump and is violently controversial in public, is entrusted with a radical reduction of personnel and costs in the federal authorities. As Hegseth has now announced, the Pentagon also suspended funding of more than $ 500 million for Northwestern University and Cornell University, as these universities “tolerate anti-Semitism and support split the DEI programs”. The ministry had previously released cash payments to other universities. According to a memo viewed by the Washington Post, Hegseth had ordered in February to reduce the budget of the Ministry of Defense by eight percent each year. In 2025, the defense budget was around $ 850 billion.
