The US Department of Defense’s independent weapons testing office has been dismantled, leaving remaining staff with more work to do, according to a new congressional watchdog report. Last year’s workforce cuts at the Office of the Director of Operational Test and Evaluation, or DOT&E, led to several organizational changes, including the number of programs the
The US Department of Defense’s independent weapons testing office has been dismantled, leaving remaining staff with more work to do, according to a new congressional watchdog report.
Last year’s workforce cuts at 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 expressed concern that the cuts will lead to weapons reaching troops without proper oversight, increasing the risk of dangerous malfunctions.
According to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a congressional watchdog, DOT&E’s civilian staff fell from 126 positions to just 30 in May 2025, when U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth issued a memo dismantling the office. Hegseth said at the time that the cuts would save about $300 million annually and “improve the lethality, readiness and efficiency of our Armed Forces.”
DOT&E action officer staff, who are responsible for evaluating programs, told GAO that the cuts had resulted in them being assigned more programs to oversee, as well as programs in warfighting areas in which they are not experts. There are also gaps in specific areas such as electronic warfare.
DOT&E’s weapons program monitoring list included 15 of about 110 active mid-level acquisition pathway programs as of February 2026. MTA’s programs are optimized to deploy new technologies faster, essentially bypassing some traditional steps. According to the GAO report, DOT&E workers said they are concerned that military departments could rely on the MTA’s route to avoid certain testing requirements.
DOT&E has been reporting critical information about the successes and failures of expensive weapons programs like the F-35. US Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Nicole Stuart
More broadly, DOT&E previously went from overseeing 265 programs in 2024 to 173 in 2025. According to the GAO, eliminations occur for a variety of reasons, including a weapons program being completed, canceled or merged. But DOT&E can also stop oversight upon determining that a program no longer needs it.
With fewer staff and programs, DOT&E action officials are now concerned about impacts on troops. “Action officials also said that losses in the depth and breadth of oversight caused by workforce reductions, and subsequent loss of subject matter expertise, increase the risk that weapon systems will be issued to warfighters with undocumented deficiencies related to effectiveness, suitability, survivability, or lethality,” the GAO said.
Established by Congress in 1983, DOT&E oversees a broad portfolio of weapons systems across all services and approves different stages of testing for them. The office ensures that tests have been performed, reviews the results and provides information on successes and failures to the Pentagon and Congress to make decisions about next steps. DOT&E may also conduct its own testing.
While the Secretary of Defense and lawmakers can still move forward with a program despite the DOT&E review, the office is a critical independent office that informs everyone, including taxpayers, about the details behind testing weapons such as the F-35 stealth fighter. It can help reveal problems with new weapons before troops take those systems into combat.
Under the second Trump administration, Hegseth and other officials have prioritized accelerating the deployment of new weapons, such as drones, to get them to troops more quickly. Leaders have described the process as a “fail fast” mentality drawn from Silicon Valley, but this change has raised concerns about troop safety.