Where DOGE isn’t cutting

Polygraph | Newsletter n°294 | 13 Mar 2025

IN THIS NEWSLETTER: A breakdown of where DOGE avoids making cuts.

Situation

Anyone serious about cutting government waste, fraud, and abuse would start with the Pentagon. Despite the massive sums of public funds at play, the Pentagon has never passed an audit. What’s more, investigations have found systematic price gouging by contractors on nearly everything the Pentagon buys. With that in mind, here are a few bullet points on where DOGE isn’t cutting.

A few bullet points on where DOGE isn’t cutting

• Largest buyer of goods and services in the world: US government

• Amount the US government spent on contracts for goods and services in 2024: $755 billion

• Amount one government agency—the Pentagon—spent on contracts in 2024: $454 billion

• Pentagon contracts as a share of total federal contracts: 60%

• Amount DOGE claims to have saved by terminating federal contracts: $18 billion

• Hypothetical DOGE cut to Pentagon contracts, if cuts were proportional: $11 billion

• Actual DOGE cut to Pentagon contracts: $8.5 million

• Cuts to Pentagon contracts as a share of all contract cuts: <0.05%

• Cuts to Pentagon contracts as a share of annual Pentagon contracts: <0.002%

• Top Pentagon contractor by market valuation: SpaceX

• Pentagon contracts awarded to SpaceX: $5.6 billion

• SpaceX CEO: Elon Musk

• DOGE leader: Elon Musk

^Alt text for screen readers: DOGE barely bothers with Pentagon contracts. Breakdown of DOGE’s claimed federal contract cancellations, by type. This pie chart shows that 0.05% of canceled contracts are military contracts, the rest being non-military. Figures refer to contract value. Data: DOGE, accessed 13 March 2025. Note: DOGE data is less than reliable.

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-Stephen (Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and Bluesky)