Is Pete Hegseth locked in a secret battle with Elon Musk over military staffing and spending? Here's what reports say

Behind the scenes within the Trump administration, a power struggle is brewing between two of its top officials: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and US president Donald Trump's special adviser and head of DOGE Elon Musk, as per a report.

Elon Musk Wants Big Cuts, Pete Hegseth Pushes Back

The two have reportedly disagreed about the future of military personnel staffing and spending, a disagreement which would bring more chaos in the adminstration, according to DailyBeast.

While Hegseth has publicly endorsed Musk's larger goal of eliminating government waste, but in private, he's said to be resisting DOGE's current proposal of eliminating up to 200,000 civilian positions at the Defense Department, according to The New York Times. That would lead to cutting nearly a third of the Pentagon's 750,000 civilian workers, including positions at military hospitals, shipyards, schools, and munitions plants, as per the report. Hegseth said that this move would cripple critical department functions, reported New York Times.


The Defense Secretary has been very focused on restoring what he calls “warrior ethos” to the Defense Department, as per DailyBeast. According to the New York Times, Hegseth has posted 16 photos and videos over the past month of himself working out with combat troops.

However, a few defense officials on anonimity told the New York Times that, Hegseth and Musk had met at the White House this month to try to work out their differences, although it is not know if their effort was successful, reported DailyBeast.

Donald Trump’s Spending Plans vs. Musk’s Efficiency Goals

Meanwhile, the US president has promised to increase military spending to $1 trillion from $850 billion annually, and still Musk is determined to find tens of billions of dollars in Defense Department savings, according to the New York Times report. Musk had even replaced a senior official representing DOGE at the Pentagon because the official wasn’t willing to make deep enough cuts, according to DailyBeast.

FAQs

What’s the disagreement about?
Hegseth and Musk disagree on the DOGE's plan to cut up to 200,000 civilian jobs from the Defense Department to save money.

Why does Musk want to cut so many jobs?
Musk believes cutting these positions will reduce government inefficiencies and save billions of dollars.