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As Elon Musk eyes Defense Department, conflicts of interest, accounting issues loom

USA Today
Summary
Nutrition label

79% Informative

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed DOGE to the Pentagon , where Elon Musk will face an accounting system that has never passed an audit.

Defense policy experts say the Pentagon 's $850 billion budget is in sore need of oversight investigators regularly uncover billions of dollars of waste.

The true scope of Musk 's contracts with the Defense Department is impossible to know, since many of his contracts are classified.

The Department 's accounting has "weak internal controls," a Government Accountability Office director says.

The Pentagon points out that some of its parts a minority have passed their audits.

Modernizing those systems costs even more money around a billion dollars , according to Harrison .

Hegseth has said he will push for the Pentagon to pass an audit at the end of Trump 's term.

VR Score

81

Informative language

78

Neutral language

48

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

56

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

short-lived

External references

17

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/11/trump-musk-orders-workforce-cuts/78422704007/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2025/02/13/armored-tesla-state-musk-trump/https://www.reuters.com/world/us/elon-musks-us-department-defense-contracts-2025-02-11/https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-budget-price-gouging-military-contractors-60-minutes-2023-05-21/https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4134625https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/elon-musk-armored-tesla-forecast-400-million-state-department-contractshttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/education/2025/02/11/doge-musk-education-department-research/78411180007/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2024/10/29/air-force-soap-dispenser-boondoggle/75914801007/https://profile.usatoday.com/newsletters/daily-briefing/?utm_source=syndication&utm_medium=microsoftnews&utm_campaign=dailybriefing&utm_content=inlinearticlehttps://www.defense.gov/News/Contracts/Contract/Article/2460438/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/opinion/pentagon-budget-military-spending-waste.htmlhttps://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF10600https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/03/usaid-elon-musk-donald-trump/78175895007/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/us/politics/inspectors-general-trump-lawsuit.htmlhttps://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/10/lockheed-martin-doj-settle-f35-overcharge-claims/78385079007/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/15/elon-musk-pentagon-budget-doge/78459343007/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/01/25/trump-inspectors-general-agencies/77945298007/

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