Trump: Musk Will Find Billions in Waste at DoD
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President Donald Trump said Sunday that he expects Elon Musk and Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to find billions of dollars of fraud and abuse at the Pentagon, reports Reuters on MSN. “I’m going to tell him very soon, like maybe in 24 hours, to go check the Department of Education. … Then I’m going to go, go to the military. Let’s check the military,” Trump said in the Fox News’ interview. He said that Musk is going to find “billions, hundreds of millions of dollars of fraud and abuse.” The Pentagon’s budget is approaching $1 trillion a year.
The nonprofit Navy League of the United States released its 2025-2026 Maritime Policy Statement. Among the report’s recommendations: The US should invest at least $40 billion every year to grow and maintain its fleet of battle force ships in preparation for long-term and large-scale wars, reports Navy Times. The document covers all aspects of the maritime domain. It also urges Congress to increase funding for a Navy plan to revitalize shipyards and add to the Coast Guard’s fleet of polar icebreakers.
A US Marine and three defense contractors were killed Thursday in a plane crash in the Philippines, reports AP News on MSN. The plane, contracted by the US military, crashed in a rice field in the southern Philippines. The aircraft was conducting a routine mission “providing intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance support at the request of our Philippine allies,” according to a US Indo-Pacific Command statement.
The US Coast Guard said Thursday that it is searching for a crew member who was reported missing from the cutter Waesche that is operating in the eastern Pacific Ocean, reports Navy Times. The service did not provide the member’s name or additional details about the specific location of the search efforts.
Veterans Affairs officials said they are working with officials from Musk’s DOGE on ways to reform the agency’s operations, reports Air Force Times. The officials insisted that veterans’ medical and benefits data is not being shared with any outside offices.
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Musk is turning his sights on NOAA, the country’s key weather forecasting and scientific research agency, reports Capital News Service. Several of Musk’s employees have visited National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offices in the region, according to the senator. “Targeting NOAA as part of this unprecedented takeover will not improve government efficiency, instead, it will jeopardize critical work that saves lives,” Van Hollen said.
Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee have raised concerns that Trump’s efforts to cut the federal workforce are hurting recent initiatives to recruit more cyber and technology personnel into government, reports Federal News Network. “Now, reckless attacks on federal workers risk reversing recent progress in addressing the federal government’s cyber workforce shortage,” reads a letter to Charles Ezell, acting director of the Office of Personnel Management.
On Friday, Trump called for a review of federal funding to nongovernmental organizations and for a halt on spending to groups that “undermine the national interest,” reports The Hill. The president had moved to freeze spending on foreign aid and maybe end the US Agency for International Development, earlier this month. Forced leaves began for most employees of the USAID on Friday, as workers turned to the courts to try to roll back the administration’s orders that dismantled most of the agency and its programs around the world, reports AP News.
Former DefSec Mark Esper’s security detail has been pulled by Trump, reports The Hill. This adds Esper to a slew of others who have had their security provisions taken away after being critical of the commander in chief. Esper was the Pentagon chief from July 2019 until November 2020. Trump had already stripped security protections for others who worked under his first administration, including GEN Mark Milley, who served a four-year term as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; former national security adviser John Bolton; and Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Huffington Post reported.
Helicopters and airplanes are no longer allowed to share the air space over the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport, the FAA announced last week, reports The Hill. There is an exception: If a medical, police, military, or presidential helicopter must fly in that space, civilian aircraft will not be allowed, “to prevent potential conflicts in this airspace,” officials said.
The US Navy has successfully tested its High-Energy Laser with Integrated Optical Dazzler and Surveillance, or HELIOS, system on the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Preble, reports Defense News. The warship fired its HELIOS system to zap an aerial drone during a weapons testing exercise last year.
Lockheed Martin announced it has received a Missile Defense Agency recompete contract worth $2.8 billion to develop the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, weapon system, reports GovConWire. Lockheed will continue efforts carried out under the previous Advanced Capabilities Development contract and work related to the development, integration, and testing of hardware and software updates.
Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and L3Harris said they are well-equipped to support the Trump administration’s push for a “next-generation missile defense shield,” reports Space News. The proposed Iron Dome for America system is heavily reliant on space-based sensors and potentially controversial space-based interceptors. A Trump executive order directs the DoD to accelerate the development and deployment of an advanced missile defense system.
California-based tech company Workday announced it will cut jobs and shift its focus to artificial intelligence and global expansion, reports Computerworld. The company, which sell workforce management software, will lay off 1,750 employees, roughly 8.5% of its workforce, as part of a restructuring plan to invest more heavily in AI and accelerate international growth.
Eleven NAVAIR employees were named 2024 Mentors of the Year as part of Naval Air Systems Command’s Mentoring Month observance in January, reports NAVAIR News. The winners include Matthew Stepura of NAVAIR Headquarters/Program Executive Office, and Lindley Bark of NAWCAD Patuxent River/Webster Outlying Field.
Panama said that the US State Department’s claim that American warships and boats can move through the Panama Canal without paying a standard fee is not true, reports The Hill. Panamanian President José Raúl Mulino disputed the statement on free transit after StateSec Marco Rubio’s visit there last week. “I want to make it very clear to the country my absolute rejection of the statement from the State Department,” Mulino said. “It is based on a falsehood.”
The design for the new Francis Scott Key Bridge was unveiled last week, almost a year after a container ship slammed into the old bridge, reports Maryland Matters. The new bridge will be four lanes, two in each direction as the old bridge was. But it will provide 230 feet of clearance for ships passing underneath, compared to a height of 185 feet for the old bridge.
A new energy plan for Maryland was unveiled last week by lawmakers, reports Capital News Service. The legislation would make it easier to build new energy plants and other power projects in the state.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has issued new suggested guidelines for waterfowl hunters, reports The Daily Times on MSN, as the bird flu spreads in commercial flocks and in waterfowl on the Eastern Shore and other places in Maryland. Among the suggested guidelines is cooking harvested waterfowl to 165 degrees to kill any viruses or bacteria.
Five American-born men have received Britain’s highest military award for valor, reports Air Force Times. Queen Victoria instituted the Victoria Cross in 1856. Four of the men received the award for their actions while serving in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I. The war had set the stage for them to pass as Canadians.
Contracts:
Eagle Systems Inc. is awarded a $71,421,458 cost-plus-fixed-fee, cost reimbursable, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract. This contract provides material management and logistics support services, to include life cycle management, material and equipment management, and recordkeeping and reporting in support of the application of rapid development, rapid prototyping, and system integration in the development of product-based solutions to support combat integration and identification systems, ship and air integrated systems, special communications mission solutions, air traffic control and landing systems, airborne systems integration, and integrated command, control and intel systems for the Navy, Foreign Military Sales customers and non-Department of Defense partners. Work will be performed in St. Inigoes, Maryland (91%); Fayetteville, North Carolina (3.5%); Patuxent River, Maryland (3%); San Diego, California (2%); and Norfolk, Virginia (0.5%), and expected to be completed February 2030. No funds will be obligated at the time of award; funds will be obligated on individual orders as they are issued. This contract was procured as a small business set-aside, six offers were received. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Maryland, is the contracting activity (N0042125D0050).
Tri Star Engineering Inc., Bloomington, Indiana, is awarded a $7,760,423 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for waterfront support services and Alteration Installation Team services for Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Maritime Electromagnetic Warfare Systems Division. This contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of this contract to $44,008,075. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (45%); San Diego, California (45%); Crane, Indiana (7%); and Bremerton, Washington (3%), and is expected to be completed by February 2026. If all options are exercised, work will continue through February 2030. Fiscal 2024 appropriation account other procurement (Navy) funds in the amount of $111,528 will be obligated at time of award. This contract was competitively procured via the System for Award Management website, with two offers received. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division, Crane, Indiana, is the contracting activity (N0016425CWM44).
Alliant-ATI JV LLC, Knoxville, Tennessee (W912DQ-25-D-3003); Bluestone Burns & McDonnell JV II, Malvern, Pennsylvania (W912DQ-25-D-3004); FPM-AECOM JV2, Oneida, New York (W912DQ-25-D-3005); GEO Consultants Corporation, Kevil, Kentucky (W912DQ-25-D-3006); and PCI Bhate JV LLC, Reston, Virginia (W912DQ-25-D-3007), will compete for each order of the $45,000,000 order-dependent contract for architect-engineer services. Bids were solicited via the internet with nine received. Work locations and funding will be determined with each order, with an estimated completion date of Aug. 5, 2030. US Army Corps of Engineers, Kansas City, Missouri, is the contracting activity.
ASRC Federal Facilities Logistics LLC, as successor-in-interest to Science Applications International Corp., Beltsville, Maryland, has been awarded a maximum $60,000,000 firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for facilities maintenance, repair and operations supplies. This was a sole-source acquisition using justification 10 US Code 3204 (a)(1), as stated in Federal Acquisition Regulation 6.302-1. This is a 174-day bridge contract. Locations of performance are Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Arkansas, with a July 31, 2025, ordering period end date. Using customers are Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard. Type of appropriation is fiscal 2025 defense working capital funds. The contracting activity is the Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (SPE8E3-25-D-0011).
