WASHINGTON — US troops could receive new weapons and tech with “undocumented shortfalls” after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth reshaped a key Pentagon testing office last year by cutting nearly 100 civilian posts and leaving more work those who remain, according to a new government watchdog report.
“The staff reductions since May 2025 constrain the depth and breadth of oversight that DOT&E [Director, Operational Test and Evaluation] can provide for DOD’s weapon systems,” said a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report released today.
“This includes oversight of major defense acquisition programs and others, such as middle tier of acquisition programs—a growing area within DOD,” the GAO said, referencing the Pentagon’s streamlined framework to rapidly develop and field new capabilities by bypassing traditional acquisition processes.
The Pentagon did not immediately respond to Breaking Defense’s questions about today’s report.
GAO’s findings come just over a year after Hegseth inked a memo that reshaped the entire DOT&E office. At the time, he estimated that the changes would save $300 million per year, cut “bureaucratic overhead” and drive “greater efficiency.”
The DOT&E office reorganization was intended to “support of an America First defense strategy,” Hegseth wrote at the time. “A comprehensive internal review has identified redundant, non-essential, non-statutory functions within [the office] that do not support operational agility or resource efficiency, affecting our ability to rapidly and effectively deploy the best systems to the warfighter.”
GAO said that memo set off a cascade of second- and third-order consequences. Some DOT&E leaders were dual-hatted and given two jobs. The civilian workforce shrunk from 126 positions — of which 106 were filled at the time — down to 30. And the cuts reduced the number of “action officers” tasked with assessing weapons programs for flaws.
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“According to DOT&E Action Officers, the significant workforce reductions resulted in them being assigned more programs, programs in warfare areas for which they lack subject matter expertise, or both,” the government watchdog said.
“They also said the workforce reductions and resulting loss of subject matter expertise increase the risk of weapon systems being delivered to the warfighters with undocumented operational shortfalls,” the GAO added, noting that expertise gaps in key fields like electronic warfare emerged.
As the DOT&E staff shrunk, so did the list of weapons programs the office was charged with overseeing. In May 2025, for example, 173 weapons were on the office’s oversight list, but 90 programs were removed after Hegseth’s order, according to the GAO. Reasons given for removal ranged from program cancellations, to program mergers, to an internal decision that oversight was no longer needed, the GAO said, citing information from employees.
The GAO report does not include comments from the Pentagon but notes that DOT&E is conducting an analysis of its workforce and workload in response to a congressional inquiry.
Established by Congress in 1983, DOT&E’s job, in part, is to produce an annual report updating lawmakers about the progress and challenges facing multi-million and multi-billion dollar weapon development programs. It also serves as an advisor to the Joint Requirements Oversight Council.