Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Thursday, February 13th.

Today on Forbes, a mad scramble inside the Pentagon ahead of Doge's arrival.

Doge is coming for the Department of Defense.

After taking the knife to a growing roster of federal agencies and causing widespread panic at others, employees

from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency are set to arrive at the Pentagon in the

coming days, a person briefed on the effort, told Forbes.

Charged with cutting $2 trillion from the federal budget, they could bring an unprecedented shakeup

to America's sprawling military and

its nearly $1 trillion budget. For decades, legislators on both sides of the aisle have struggled

to rein in wasteful defense spending with little success, as the Pentagon has been repeatedly

embarrassed by reports of egregious overspending. Millions in untracked inventory, failed audits,

the infamous $10,000 toilet seats. In an interview during Sunday Super Bowl, President Trump

said he expected Doge's review of the military will find, quote, hundreds of billions of dollars

of fraud and abuse. Now, even as Elon Musk's cost-cutting machine faces

mounting court challenges and threats from Democrats, Defense Secretary Pete Hegeseth is rolling out

the welcome mat. On Fox News on Tuesday, he said, quote, I've been in touch with Elon Musk,

who's a great patriot interested in advancing the America First Agenda.

There are plenty of places we want the keen eye of Doge, but we will do it in coordination.

Hegset said he would focus on cuts to weapons acquisitions and procurement, climate programs,

and headcount at headquarters. Doge staffers will be employed directly by the Defense Department

to focus solely on executing

its cost-cutting mandate, a person with direct knowledge said.

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