Shellfish and fruit stands? Pete Hegseth’s DOD is under fire after a watchdog study uncovers billions in bizarre spending

The Department of Defense under Pete Hegseth spent an inordinate amount on an unusual array of luxury items in the final month of the 2025 fiscal year — including millions on crabs, lobster tails, ribeye steaks, and even fruit basket stands — according to a new analysis by government watchdog Open the Books.

The report, published March 9, 2026, highlights an end‑of‑year spending surge that resulted in the most expensive single month of contracts and grants in the Pentagon’s recent history.

$93 billion in contracts and grants

According to Open the Books, in September 2025, the Department of Defense — which Trump has called the Department of War in an executive order yet to be approved by Congress — obligated approximately $93 billion in contracts and grants, marking the highest monthly total on record since at least 2008.

Analysts say much of the surge was fueled by federal “use‑it‑or‑lose‑it” budget rules, which require agencies to spend their full annual allocations or risk reductions in future funding.

Among the notable purchases logged in the Open the Books analysis were $2 million worth of Alaskan king crab and about $6.9 million on lobster tails within that single month, along with $15.1 million on ribeye steak and about $1 million on salmon, according to the watchdog’s review of publicly available Pentagon contracts.

Notably, $4.6 million was spent on seafood in 2018, making the roughly $23 million spent on steak and seafood in September 2025 a nearly 500% increase in that category.

The Department’s year-end splurge extended to specialty food and kitchenware, with contracts totaling $139,224 for doughnuts and $124,000 for ice cream machines. The watchdog report also highlighted more granular waste, such as $12,000 spent on three-tiered fruit basket stands.

Furniture, iPads, and musical instruments

The department also spent more than $225 million on furniture in September alone — the highest monthly total in over a decade. Those purchases included premium chairs priced at tens of thousands of dollars each.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon also spent millions of dollars on technology and devices, including $5.3 million on Apple products, $4 million on Samsung equipment, and several high‑end musical instruments.

While year‑end spending spikes are not unique to the current administration, the scale of the Pentagon’s expenditures in September 2025 surpassed historical norms tracked by Open the Books, which has monitored federal contracts and grant spending for more than a decade.

The group noted that in the final five working days of September alone, the Defense Department obligated more than $50 billion in contracts and grants — more than the entire annual defense budgets of some allied nations.

These spending spikes occurred despite the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which Secretary Hegseth explicitly stated would be “incorporated into the DOD” to find waste just months prior in February 2025.

The report’s findings have drawn attention amid broader budget debates in Washington, including ongoing discussions over federal nutrition assistance and other domestic programs that faced cuts and policy changes in late 2025 and early 2026.

In another budget controversy, in late 2025, a Pentagon inspector general investigation revealed that Hegseth had installed a unique system in his secure office to access his personal cellphone, prompting concerns about communications security.

In December 2025, a Pentagon Inspector General report found Hegseth violated security protocols by using the Signal messaging app on his personal phone to share sensitive operational details, including the timing of airstrikes in Yemen.