Pentagon's Hegseth sees growth in defense spending despite Musk review

WASHINGTON, Feb 11 (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday he was working with Congress to increase overall U.S. defense spending and played down concerns over a pending audit by Elon Musk aimed at finding billions of dollars in waste at the Pentagon.

Hegseth, speaking in Germany during his first trip overseas, said he had already been in touch with Musk and expressed confidence in the effort to find billions in cost-cutting.

"There's plenty of places where we want the keen eye of DOGE, but we'll do it in coordination," Hegseth said, referring to Musk's Department of Government Efficiency. "We're not going to do things that are to the detriment of American operational or tactical capabilities."