Pentagon freezes government credit cards in DOGE cost-savings push
All non-essential official travel reservations for civilians must be canceled, per a March 5 memo.
Meghann Myers | March 6, 2025
Civilians Personnel Pentagon DOGE
The Defense Department has put a spending freeze on civilian employees’ government credit cards, according to two memos issued Tuesday and Wednesday, forcing department civilians to cancel all scheduled non-essential travel and return from any trips in progress “as soon as feasible,” and reducing spending limits on government purchase cards to $1.
The memos follow a Feb. 26 executive order announcing an initiative from the Department of Government Efficiency, a White House advisory board, to rein in government spending.
“Currently, exempted DOD civilian employee travel only includes travel in direct support of military operations or a permanent change of station,” according to the memo from Darin Selnick, the department’s interim personnel boss.
Though the Pentagon didn’t release its official guidance until this week, DOD civilians have been working under the assumption that they weren’t to take any non-essential trips since the executive order came down.
https://www.defenseone.com/policy/2025/03/pentagon-freezes-government-credit-cards-doge-cost-savings-push/403537/?oref=d1-featured-river-secondary