The Pentagon's gutted weapons testing office is doing more work with fewer people, risking dangers on the battlefield, new watchdog report says

The US Department of Defense’s independent office for testing weapons has been gutted, leaving its remaining staff with more work, according to a new Congressional watchdog report.

Last year’s workforce cuts to the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, or DOT&E, led to several organizational changes, including the number of programs the office oversees.

Experts and officials have raised concerns that the cuts will lead to weapons getting to troops without proper supervision, increasing the risk of dangerous malfunctions.

According to a report from the US Government Accountability Office, a Congressional watchdog, DOT&E’s civilian staff decreased from 126 positions to just 30 in May 2025, when US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memo gutting the office.

Hegseth said at the time that the cuts would save a projected $300 million annually and “improve the lethality, readiness, and efficiency of our Armed Forces.” DOT&E’s staff of action officers, who are responsible for assessing programs, told the GAO that the cuts had resulted in them being assigned more programs to oversee, as well as programs in warfare areas they’re not experts in.

There are also gaps in specific areas like electronic warfare.

DOT&E’s oversight list of weapons programs included 15 of around 110 active middle-tier acquisition pathway programs as of February 2026.

MTA programs are streamlined for fielding new technologies faster, essentially bypassing some traditional steps.

Per the GAO report, DOT&E workers said they’re concerned military departments could rely on the MTA pathway to avoid certain testing requirements.

More broadly, DOT&E previously went from overseeing 265 programs in 2024 to 173 in 2025.

Per the GAO, removals occur for a variety of reasons, including a weapons program being completed, cancelled, or merged.

But DOT&E can also stop oversight by determining a program no longer needs it.

With fewer staff and programs, DOT&E action officers are now worried about impacts on troops. “Action officers also said that the losses in oversight depth and breadth caused by the workforce reductions, and subsequent loss of subject matter expertise, increase the risk of weapon systems being delivered to the warfighters with undocumented shortfalls related to effectiveness, suitability, survivability, or lethality,” the GAO said.

Established by Congress in 1983, DOT&E oversees a vast portfolio of weapons systems across services and approves the different stages of testing for them.

The office ensures tests have been conducted, reviews the results, and provides information on successes and failures to the Pentagon and Congress to make decisions on next steps.

DOT&E can also conduct its own tests.

While the defense secretary and lawmakers can still move forward with a program despite DOT&E’s review, the office is a critical independent office that informs everyone, taxpayers included, on the details behind weapons testing, like the F-35 stealth fighter.

It can help reveal issues with new weapons before troops carry those systems into combat.

Under the second Trump administration, Hegseth and other officials have prioritized quickening the fielding of new weapons, such as drones, to get them to troops quicker.

Leadership has described the process as a “failing fast” mentality drawn from Silicon Valley, but this shift has raised concerns about troop safety.