DOGE Sets Its Sights on the Military

Summary

WSJ What’s News – Episode Summary: "DOGE Sets Its Sights on the Military"

Release Date: February 14, 2025
Host: Alex Osola
Produced by: Pierre Bienname and Anthony Banci

---

Introduction

In this episode of WSJ What’s News, host Alex Osola delves into several pivotal stories shaping the world of business, politics, and technology. From high-stakes negotiations involving major tech firms to significant shifts in military budgeting, the episode offers a comprehensive overview of the top headlines influencing global markets and governance.

---

OpenAI Rejects Elon Musk’s $97 Billion Bid

Timestamp: 00:37

The episode opens with a significant development in the tech industry:

• Elon Musk’s Bid for OpenAI: Elon Musk made a substantial offer of $97 billion to acquire OpenAI's assets. However, the board of OpenAI declined the proposal, citing that the bid was "not in the best interests" of the company's mission. This decision underscores OpenAI's commitment to its foundational goals over financial incentives.

---

Resignation of Star Prosecutors in New York City

Timestamp: 00:37

A critical legal controversy unfolds in New York City:

• Prosecutor Resignations: Hagan Scotten, a prominent prosecutor, resigned in protest against the Justice Department's directive to drop bribery charges against Mayor Eric Adams. Scotten criticized the move as a tactic to secure Adams' support for Trump administration initiatives combating illegal immigration and violent crime.
• Chain Reaction: Following Scotten's resignation, at least five more career prosecutors from the Justice Department have stepped down, indicating widespread dissent within the department over the decision to dismiss the case.
• Additional Context: Danielle Sassoon, the acting U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, also resigned, highlighting the depth of disagreement within the department regarding the handling of Mayor Adams' case.

---

International News: Russian Drone Strike on Chernobyl

Timestamp: 02:34

Significant geopolitical tensions are highlighted:

• Drone Strike Incident: Ukrainian officials reported that a Russian drone targeted the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, igniting a fire in the radiation shelter. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed that the fire was extinguished without any rise in radiation levels. However, visual evidence showed structural damage, though nuclear safety experts assured that the inner containment remained intact.
• Zelensky at Munich Security Conference: President Zelensky emphasized the priority of negotiating peace, stating, "I don't want to meet just with Russians. Just to meet for what?" (02:34). He outlined the sequence of talks, prioritizing meetings with the United States and Europe before engaging with Russia.

---

President Zelensky’s Meetings with U.S. Officials

Timestamp: 02:44

Further diplomatic engagements include:

• Private Meetings: Zelensky met privately with U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and other lawmakers. During these discussions, Zelensky alleged that Treasury Secretary Scott Besant attempted to persuade him to sign an agreement granting the U.S. a 50% stake in Ukraine's rare earth minerals. These claims were reported by lawmakers to the Wall Street Journal, indicating potential leverage tactics by U.S. officials.

---

Hamas Announces Hostage Release

Timestamp: 02:44

In Middle Eastern affairs:

• Hostage Release Plan: Hamas declared the imminent release of the last remaining American civilian and two other men held hostage in Gaza. This announcement follows recent disputes over humanitarian aid deliveries, which had jeopardized the fragile ceasefire between conflicting parties.

---

Department of Government Efficiency Targets the Department of Defense

Timestamp: 02:44 – 07:15

A major focus of the episode is on governmental budgeting and efficiency:

• DOGE’s Initiative: The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has set its sights on the Department of Defense (DoD) to identify significant cost-saving measures. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth welcomed DOGE's involvement at the Pentagon.

• Interview with Nancy Youssef: WSJ National Security Correspondent Nancy Youssef provides an in-depth analysis of the military’s budget and the implications of potential cuts.

  • Military Budget Overview: The Pentagon's budget exceeds $800 billion, with total defense-related expenditures surpassing $1 trillion when including nuclear programs and the Department of Energy (04:28).
  • Allocation Breakdown: Approximately half of the budget funds personnel, followed by healthcare costs and weapons equipment. The military employs 3 million people, including 2 million troops responsible for national defense.
  • Potential Budget Cuts: Youssef discusses how military services are reassessing their expenditures, particularly in rapidly evolving areas like drone technology, to prioritize more effective investments (04:36).
  • Congressional Dynamics: Unlike previous attempts, the current Congress may be more amenable to budget cuts, especially since many defense projects are intertwined with local economies across multiple states, making unilateral budget reductions politically challenging (05:40).
  • Additional Cut Targets: Potential cuts could affect military contractors and reduce the number of general officers. Secretary Hegseth referenced the possibility of having "too many generals and admirals" (06:15).
  • Impact on Local Economies: Even minor budget adjustments can have substantial effects on specific districts and senators’ constituencies due to the immense size and complexity of the DoD budget (06:15).

---

U.S. Markets Recap

Timestamp: 07:47

A concise update on stock market movements:

• Mixed Performance: The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped by 0.4%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.4%. The S&P 500 hovered near a record closing high set the previous month, closing down by less than 0.1%.
• Notable Movers:
  • Airbnb and Roku: Both companies saw significant surges following strong earnings reports.
  • Coinbase: Despite reporting increased revenue and profit, Coinbase's shares declined, reflecting broader market volatility.

---

Airlines Expand Operations in Connecticut

Timestamp: 07:15 – 09:41

The episode explores strategic shifts in the aviation industry:

• Underserved Market: Connecticut emerges as a burgeoning hub for airlines seeking to capitalize on underserved regions. Regional airports in the state present lucrative opportunities due to lower fees and reduced competition for gates.
• Insights from Jacob Passi:
  • Affluent Demographics: Connecticut’s population has substantial disposable income, making it an attractive market for leisure travel.
  • Geographical Advantage: Positioned between major hubs like Boston and New York, Connecticut offers a convenient alternative for travelers avoiding longer drives to larger airports (08:45).
  • Competitive Edge: Airlines like Breeze Airways and Avelo Airlines are tapping into this niche, supported by lower operational costs and less gate competition compared to major airports. Established carriers such as JetBlue and American Airlines are also expanding their presence in similar regional markets (09:46).
  • Industry Trend: This shift indicates a broader industry trend towards leveraging smaller airports to build business sustainably and cost-effectively (10:37).

---

Valentine’s Day and Tech-Driven Love Languages

Timestamp: 10:37 – 12:13

A unique take on modern relationships:

• Location Sharing as Affection: In lieu of traditional Valentine’s gifts like flowers and chocolates, some individuals express love by sharing their phone’s location through apps like Life360, Snapchat’s Snap Map, or Apple’s Find My.
• Insights from Julie Jargan:
  • Generational Shift: Younger generations, accustomed to being constantly connected and tracked by parents and peers, view location sharing as a natural extension of their relationship dynamics.
  • Potential Conflicts: This method of expressing affection can lead to trust issues and arguments, particularly if one partner feels the other is being overly intrusive or hiding something (11:16).
  • Trust Dynamics: For some, the ultimate sign of trust is the absence of the need to monitor a partner's whereabouts continually (12:13).

---

Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes

Timestamp: 12:13 – 13:09

Alex Osola wraps up the episode by previewing future content:

• Upcoming Shows:
  • Weekly Wrap-Up: The next day’s episode will provide a comprehensive review of the week’s news and market movements.
  • Sunday Deep Dive: An in-depth exploration of President Trump's objective to dismantle the Education Department, including potential legal and political hurdles.
  • Holiday Note: Monday's episode is skipped for President's Day, with the show resuming on Tuesday morning.

---

Notable Quotes

• President Volodymyr Zelensky: "First of all, I don't want to meet just with Russians. Just to meet for what? No, we see the order of meetings. As I said, the order is United States, Europe, then Russia." (02:34)

• Nancy Youssef: "It's an agency that employs 3 million people, 2 million of them being troops with such an awesome responsibility, the defense of the country." (05:34)

• Julie's Insight: "The ultimate sign of trust is to not have to know where your partner is at all times." (12:13)

---

Additional Information

• Production Credits: The episode was produced by Pierre Bienname and Anthony Banci, with supervising producer Emily Martosi. Michael Lavalle composed the theme music, and Aisha El Musleam served as the development producer. Scott Salloway and Chris Insinsley are the deputy editors, while Falana Patterson leads news audio for the Wall Street Journal.

• Availability: "What's News" is available wherever you get your podcasts, offering listeners concise updates twice daily on weekdays, with extended analyses on weekends.

---

This summary encapsulates the key discussions and insights from the WSJ What’s News episode titled "DOGE Sets Its Sights on the Military," providing a comprehensive overview for listeners and readers alike.

Transcript

[Tim Higgins]

Tim I'm Tim Higgins with the Wall Street Journal. We've got this spot to hear directly from the leaders behind the bold name companies we cover every day. Check out bold names from the Wall Street Journal wherever you get your podcasts.

[Alex Osola]

Elon Musk's Doge sets its sights on a big item in the government's the Department of Defense.

[Nancy Youssef]

What's interesting is even what are smaller cuts relative to the military could have huge consequences. USAID budget was 40 billion. The army budget alone is 190 billion, almost plus.

[Alex Osola]

Another star prosecutor stepped down over the directive to drop the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. And why are airlines flocking to one of the country's smallest states? It's Friday, February 14th. I'm Alex Osola for the Wall Street Journal. This is the PM edition of what's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world. This just in. The board of OpenAI has turned down Elon Musk's $97 billion offer to buy the company's assets. The rejection, which was delivered in a letter to the billionaire's lawyer, stated that the board decided that the bid was, quote, not in the best interests, end quote, of the company's mission. In New York City, another star prosecutor has resigned over the Justice Department's directive to drop the case against Mayor Eric Adams. Hagan Scotten said in his resignation letter that it was illegitimate for the Justice Department to order the dismissal of bribery charges against Adams as a means for inducing the mayor to support Trump administration efforts to fight illegal immigration and violent crime. In yesterday's show, we reported that Danielle Sassoon, who had served as acting U.S. attorney in Manhattan, had stepped down. Since then, at least five career Justice Department prosecutors have also resigned after it became clear that they were next in line to handle the request to dismiss the case. In international news, Ukrainian officials say that a Russian drone struck the Chernobyl nuclear power plant early today and set fire to the shelter that contains radiation from the site. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the fire had been extinguished and no increase in radiation levels had been recorded. Photos and videos showed a hole in the outer layer of the structure, though nuclear safety experts said there's no indication that the inner containment shell had been breached. Zelensky was at the Munich security conference today, where he discussed the state of negotiations to end the war between Ukraine and Russia.

[Volodymyr Zelensky]

First of all, I don't want to meet just with Russians. Just to meet for what? No, we see the order of meetings. As I said, the order is United states, Europe, then Russia.

[Alex Osola]

Zelenskyy also met with U.S. vice President J.D. vance and had a private meeting with U.S. lawmakers. The lawmakers told the Journal that Zelenskyy said Treasury Secretary Scott Besant, who visited Kyiv earlier this week, tried to convince him to sign a piece of paper giving the US rights to 50% of its rare earth minerals. And in its planned hostage release tomorrow, Hamas said it would free the last living American Israeli civilian held hostage in Gaza, along with two other men. The announcement comes after a dispute this week over the delivery of humanitarian aid that threatened to derail the shaky ceasefire. In the weeks since President Trump took office, the Department of Government Efficiency has set its sights on cutting costs at a number of government agencies, but it has yet to tackle a budget as large and complex as that of the Department of Defense, where Doge members are expected as soon as today. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has said that Doge is welcome at the Pentagon. WSJ national security correspondent Nancy Youssef joins me now to talk about how the military is preparing for a visit from Dogeco. So, Nancy, just how big is the military's budget and what are the kinds of things that it's used for?

[Nancy Youssef]

So it's 800 billion plus. And that's just at the Pentagon. If you count things like our nuclear program and things under the Department of Energy, it goes over 1 trillion out of a $6.7 trillion budget. So the largest portion of any other agency, about half of that, is for personnel, and then there are healthcare costs, and then the rest are for weapons equipment. Those are sort of the big bucket items. It's an agency that employs 3 million people, 2 million of them being troops with such an awesome responsibility, the defense of the country.

[Alex Osola]

I would imagine that makes it a really big target for Doge as well. So how are military services preparing for a visit from Doge?

[Nancy Youssef]

So in the past, every service has sort of had a list of weapons systems or ships or equipment that they wanted to cut, usually to fund something else. So many of these systems, they'll be developed years before those who are actually using them are in place. So you'll have a general from a decade ago come up with an idea for a threat as he sees it and try to develop a weapon system to address it. And by the time it sort of reaches the Pentagon or is close to it, defense officials will say, maybe this isn't the best system. Maybe we should buy less of it. Maybe we should put our money towards something else. You hear that particularly in the army when it comes to drones, because that technology is changing so rapidly. And so some of the services, I should say, are looking at those lists that they had of things they wanted to cut and saying why don't we come to DOGE in a forward leaning way to try to help them make the decision rather than letting people who probably aren't as familiar with the military make decisions on how to find cost savings.

[Alex Osola]

So military services have proposed cuts in the past. What is potentially different this time?

[Nancy Youssef]

This time, ultimately it's that you have a Congress that is not likely to push back as much as it once did in the past. Many of these systems are developed in states where the industry is sort of the cornerstone of a local economy. A number of our larger systems are developed over multiple states by design to make it harder to cut. So something like the F35 stealth jet fighter is produced over 48 states, some component of it, and the idea was that if you had it touching so many parts of the country, it would be harder to cut.

[Alex Osola]

You mentioned a couple of great specifics, but is there anything else that's likely to be on the chopping block?

[Nancy Youssef]

I think one is contractors. The post Cold War military is much smaller than it used to be in the 1990s. And one way that the military did that is they contracted out things that used to happen within the ranks. And so you could see a threat to contracts happening. You could see cuts to the number of general officers. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at a town hall made reference to the fact that maybe we have too many generals and admirals. What's interesting is even what are smaller cuts relative to the military could have huge consequences. USAID budget was 40 billion. The army budget alone is 190 billion, almost. The cuts at DoD could directly affect a particular district, a particular senator's voting constituency. And then that's on top of the fact that you're talking about five services, millions of people employed, and a much more complex budget relative to other government agencies.

[Alex Osola]

That was WSJ national security correspondent Nancy Youssef. Thank you, Nancy.

[Nancy Youssef]

Thank you.

[Alex Osola]

Coming up, why airlines are racing to expand operations in a state often thought of as a suburb that's half to the brick.

[Christopher Mims]

I'm Christopher Mims of the Wall Street Journal. Every day we talk to the leaders behind bold name companies and you can hear from them in bold names from the Wall Street Journal, wherever you get your podcasts.

[Alex Osola]

US Markets were mixed today. Notable midday market movers included Airbnb and Roku, which both surged on the back of strong earnings reports. Coinbase shares fell even after it reported a surge in revenue and profit. The dow slipped about 0.4% and the Nasdaq gained about 0.4%. The the S&P 500 traded near the record closing high that it set last month, closing down less than a tenth of a percent. If you had to guess, what do you think is one of the hottest aviation markets in the us Maybe a big city like Atlanta or Los Angeles. Actually, it's somewhere a little more quaint. Connecticut. That's right. Small airlines like Breeze Airways and Avelo Airlines, as well as larger carriers are building up their presence at regional airports like those in the Nutmeg State. What's News producer Anthony Banty sat down with WSJ travel reporter Jacob Passi to chat about what makes Connecticut so attractive for airlines.

[Jacob Passi]

Connecticut is kind of historically underserved market. There are millions of people who live in the state. It's a fairly affluent state, so a lot of those folks have disposable income to spend on leisure travel. But there's no real major airport that serves the state. They're situated in between two big markets, Boston and New York. And for folks who live in Connecticut, it's about a two hour, three hour drive depending on traffic to either of those cities and their respective airports. So there's been this niche that airlines are looking to seize upon.

[Tim Higgins]

Are there any other markets like this?

[Jacob Passi]

Yeah, so Connecticut is one of the prime examples, but there's similar stuff going on in North Carolina. Both airlines are expanding their operations in the Charlotte area. Lakeland, Florida, which is situated in between Tampa and Orlando, is another market. They both have been identifying a similar vibe.

[Tim Higgins]

It seems like Breeze and Avelo have.

[Jacob Passi]

Somehow tapped into this desire for more.

[Tim Higgins]

Flights and routes through these regional airports. Does this signal a shift in thinking in the industry?

[Jacob Passi]

Yeah, we have been seeing this trend in terms of certain airports losing air service, and that is still happening to some extent. The airports that are losing service tend to be in very rare. So New Haven, Hartford, those are still cities, but they're smaller cities and those are the sorts of markets that carriers are paying attention to. For newer airlines like Breeze and Avello, it makes sense to tap into these markets because usually the fees associated with flying into those airports are lower. There's not the same competition for gates as you would have in a more major airport. So for them it is a way to kind of build their business in a lower cost manner. JetBlue, American, et cetera. They are also looking at these airports.

[Alex Osola]

That was WSJ travel reporter Jacob Passi speaking with producer Anthony Banci. And finally, today is Valentine's Day, a time to show your love for me. I'm happy with the classic flowers and chocolate, but some people require something a little more personal, sharing their phone's location with the person they love. This can be via apps like Life 360 or features like Snapchat's Snap Map or Apple's Find My. And things can get messy if that medium for affection is one sided. WSJ family and tech columnist Julie Jargan tells us who is into this particular love language and why?

[Julie Jargan]

A lot of the younger people that are starting out dating feel like they've, they've grown up being tracked. Their parents had them on an app, their friends all follow each other on the Snap map. And so it seems like a natural progression when dating someone to start sharing locations. And I spoke to a number of people who are in relationships or were in relationships, and this became a constant source of arguing to the point where after a little while one person called it off because they felt like their partner maybe was hiding something. It's yet another one of those decisions to make in relationships, such as commingling finances, moving in together. You know, how much do you share, how much do you become one with another person and how much space do you keep for yourself? And definitely the people who don't want to share their location, sometimes it's because they just feel there's no need to and that the ultimate sign of trust is to not have to know where your partner is at all times.

[Alex Osola]

And that's what's news for this week. Additional audio in this episode from Reuters. Tomorrow, we'll have our weekly what's News and Markets wrap up. Then on what's New? Sunday, we'll be looking at President Trump's goal of dismantling the Education Department department, how it could happen, and the legal and political challenges he could face. On Monday, we'll be taking the day off for President's Day in the US and we'll be back in your feed with a new episode Tuesday morning. Today's show was produced by Pierre Bienname and Anthony Banci, with supervising producer Emily Martosi. Michael Lavalle wrote our theme music, Aisha El Musleam is our development producer, Scott Salloway and Chris Insinsley are our deputy editors, and Falana Patterson is the Wall Street Journal's head of news audio. Alex I'm Alex Osola. Thanks for listening.

[Tim Higgins]

Every day, Wall Street Journal reporters talk with the most powerful, influential and interesting people and now we're bringing some of those conversations directly to you. I'm Tim Higgins.

[Christopher Mims]

And I'm Christopher Mims. We're teaming up to ask tough questions of the leaders behind the bold name companies found in the pages of the Journal every day. Are you going to build that $20,000 vehicle?

[Volodymyr Zelensky]

No, because that market sucks.

[Tim Higgins]

Check out bold names from the Wall Street Journal wherever you get your podcasts.