"The DDS had struggled in recent years to stay at full strength, buffeted by what employees said was political infighting, hiring freezes, travel restrictions and an increasing number of bureaucratic layers. A watchdog audit released in May 2024 also found that former DDS directors had granted unauthorized waivers for certain tech tools. But every employee interviewed said they wouldn’t have left if it wasn’t for DOGE.

One former senior Pentagon official, who asked not to be named because of possible retaliation, described DOGE’s wider incursion into the Defense Department as damaging and unproductive

“They’re not really using AI, they’re not really driving efficiency. What they’re doing is smashing everything,” the former official said.

At the DDS, “The best way to put it, I think, is either we die quickly or we die slowly,” Hay said."

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/15/pentagons-digital-resignations-00290930

#USA #Trump #Musk #DOGE #Pentagon #DoD #DDS