Though the military can do small experiments with new systems without running it by the office, it has to test anything that gets fielded at scale. “In a bipartisan way—up until now—everybody has seen it’s working to help reduce waste, fraud, and abuse,” she says. Hegseth claims his cuts will “make testing and fielding weapons more efficient,” saving $300 million. Anduril and Anthropic, which have launched AI applications for military use, did not respond to my questions about whether they pushed for or approve of the cuts. “The cuts make me nervous,” says Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies who previously worked at the Pentagon in collaboration with the testing office.