The Pentagon wants to cut several IT contracts with tech consulting firms in an effort to reduce duplicative spending and increase efficiency by relying on the defense civilian workforce, according to an April 10 memo.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the termination of several IT services contracts with the Defense Health Agency, Air Force, and Navy, saying the work could be “performed by our civilian workforce” or fulfilled with “existing procurement resources.”
Additionally, the memo ends a contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency for “IT Helpdesk Services that are duplicative with service capabilities of our existing DISA workforce.”
Hegseth said the terminated contracts “represent $5.1 billion in wasteful spending,” according to the memo.
The Defense Information Systems Agency is responsible for running defense networks worldwide, as well as IT services and White House communications. The agency has about 7,500 civilian employees, 1,600 active-duty military personnel from across the services, and more than 11,000 defense contractors, according to a 2024 accounting document.
The agency has also previously been targeted for elimination due to growing budget costs. The Pentagon’s relationship with DISA is integral for everyday and wartime communications. But its largely civilian—and very technical—workforce could also conflict with the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce the size of the federal government.
Moreover, the Defense Department writ large has suffered from a dearth in technical expertise, particularly when it comes to cybersecurity.
Hegseth’s IT service memo follows recent guidance for defense agencies and components to submit proposals to “reduce or eliminate redundant or non-essential functions and include adjusted civilian manpower levels that reflect these projected changes,” Deputy Defense Secretary Stephen Feinberg wrote in an April 7 memo. “Every role must now meet a simple test: If this position didn’t exist today, and we were at war tomorrow, would we create it? If the answer is no, it should be consolidated, restructured, or eliminated.”
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