So, we now know that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has spent jaw-dropping amounts of taxpayer money on luxuries, nice-to-have furniture, seafood, and steaks for the Pentagon. My first reaction is outrage at both the goods and the cost at a time when many people are being forced to cut back on staples and food to feed families.

My second reaction is: “Where did it all go?” As Fox News says in “Lobstergate: Pete Hegseth’s Pentagon Faces Backlash Over $7 Million Lobster Spree,”

“A newly released analysis of Department of Defense spending shows a staggering $93.4 billion splurge in September 2025, as officials scrambled to exhaust their budget before the fiscal year deadline.”

The Pentagon’s Waste, Fraud and Abuse

The lobster was the least of it. Really. A mere $6.9 million for just the tails. But wait, there’s more:

Food:

• $15.1 million on ribeye steaks
• $2 million on Alaskan king crab
• Nearly $140,000 on doughnuts
• $6.9 million on lobster tails
• Over $124,000 on ice cream machines

Furniture:

• $98,329 Steinway & Sons grand piano for an Air Force residence
• $225 million in furniture, featuring individual chairs costing nearly $1,900
• $12,540 for fruit basket stands

Technology:

• $5.3 million on Apple devices

We know Sec. Hegseth likes tail, we just didn’t think it extended to crustaceans.

Three Important Questions

Okay, here are three questions:

1. Who were the beneficiaries?
2. Are we certain they received the goods?
3. How dare the Department of Defense ask for more money year after year, primarily for expensive weapons systems, when they end their fiscal year with a $93.4 billion splurge? This was money unspent during the fiscal year, and the philosophy for spending it was “use it or lose it.”

Questions 1 and 2: Money Laundering

Did the Pentagon purchase these luxuries, whether lobster tails or $1900 Aeron chairs for the regular troops? Or did they end up on the tables and in the offices of senior officers and Pentagon workers? Or Sec. Hegseth’s friends and family?

Or, as I suspect, did they go to anyone at all? Might this be money laundering in reverse?

Here’s the definition of money laundering:

“Money laundering involves disguising illegally obtained money or assets to make them appear lawful.”

This means disguising financial assets while protecting the illegal activity that produced them. In this case, however, it could involve taking perfectly legal money and obscuring its final destination. Say you bought a grand piano but no grand piano actually appears at the home. The money goes elsewhere. You might say this is just simple theft and I wouldn’t argue with you.

Has anyone talked to people who ate the lobster tails and Alaskan crab? Has anyone seen those ice cream machines? Would any office worker admit to plunking his or her tush in a $1,900 Aeron chair?

What about that piano? It’s difficult to hide a grand piano. They tend to be large and very heavy. So, where is it? Did anyone take a picture when it was delivered?

Use It or Lose It

Having worked in the corporate world, I’m familiar with “use it or lose it” decisions. But any leftover unspent money in the corporate budget is usually spent on a nice-to-have project that lacked funding, upgrading the IT department’s equipment, purchasing an expensive piece of software, or possibly providing the sales team with golf shirts.

No company I ever worked in dropped such a huge amount of money on such frivolous luxuries. Waste, fraud and abuse doesn’t begin to describe it.

More Money for Defense

Which takes us to Question 3. Every year, we are told the Defense Department needs more money. We don’t have enough warships or airplanes or aircraft carriers, or icebreakers, or drones. More is needed. More. More.

The U.S. Department of Defense budget for Fiscal Year 2025 was approximately $849.8 billion, based on the enacted appropriations passed by Congress in 2025. That’s already enough to fill the middle.

Never mind that the Pentagon has failed its audit for the last eight years. Forget that they can’t tell us where the money they receive is going. Pay no attention to those rumors of waste, fraud and abuse. Just keep shoveling the money to the Pentagon and don’t ask any questions.

Elon Musk’s DOGE boys didn’t tackle the Pentagon budget and now we know why.

The Underspent Pentagon Budget

If the Pentagon actually needed the enormous amount of taxpayer money they receive, they would put it to good use. They would not end the year with $93.4 billion left over. This means one of three things:

1. They never needed that money to begin with.
2. They have no idea where the money goes or how it is spent.
3. No one was paying attention during the fiscal year and didn’t raise an alarm that the budget was underspent.

Now, of course, the phony “warfighter” in charge is throwing money at yet another Republican war in the billions every day. Every. Single. Day.

Unprofessional and Disrespectful

If the Defense Department was actually using its budget professionally and operationally, we might not mind. But now we know how unprofessional it is. Now we have learned how little respect the Pentagon has for the American taxpayer’s hard-earned money. And it ain’t a pretty picture.

Let’s start demanding that the Pentagon report on its expenditures every quarter—just like a corporation. After all, if you want the government to run like a business, you should enforce business rules. If it doesn’t pass an audit, we deduct money from their budget. Also, we fire the Pentagon officials for not doing their jobs. While we’re at it, let’s outlaw contracts that reward defense contractors for overspending and under delivering.

Stop the Pentagon’s Waste, Fraud and Abuse

The waste, fraud and abuse are a wake-up call that the Pentagon is taking the American taxpayer for a ride with their constant demands for more money than they actually use. Let’s stop doing that. Right now.