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As Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency continues to plunder the federal government, even the Transportation Security Administration's bomb-sniffing K9 units aren't safe.
According to an email obtained by Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin, "ALL requests for everything," for the pups, including "vet visits, kenneling, dog food, etc" have been "put on hold until we receive guidance."
The email was reportedly from the TSA's Security Operations National Explosives Detection Canine Program, which trains and deploys state and local law enforcement-led canine teams.
It remains unclear who authored the email or when it was sent, but given the fact that Griffin has shared what appears to be a smartphone picture of a screen, the email is possibly sensitive in nature. Futurism has reached out to the TSA for comment.
Over 300 dogs complete training at the program's facilities in Texas per year, according to an official website. It costs on average $33,000 to train a canine to detect explosives. More than 1,000 TSA canine teams are deployed nationwide, including passenger and cargo screening teams.
But given the latest news, the program has seemingly been ground to a halt.
Ironically, that's despite the White House celebrating "K9 Veterans Day" on Thursday, yet another glaring instance of the Trump administration not putting its money where its mouth is.
"Happy K9 Veterans Day to all of our heroic working dogs, including Conan who fearlessly participated in the military operation that ended ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in 2019," the White House's official X-formerly-Twitter account wrote in a post.
Meanwhile, it sounds like the TSA's explosives detection canine team is in chaos.
"I apologize for the confusion," the email reads, "but due to new guidance sent out last night, nothing is being approved at this time. Once I receive an update, I will be sure to share with all of you."
A similar story is playing out at a vast number of other agencies, which have Musk's DOGE tear through their doors in search of what it claims to be "fraud."
According to DOGE's website, the department has saved an estimated $115 billion. But given its track record of including egregious errors in its accounting, the real number of what DOGE has purportedly excised from government budgets remains unknown.
Undermining the TSA's role, in particular, flies in the face of the Trump administration's "tough on crime" agenda, highlighting that Musk's haphazard approach to budget cutting may have little to do with the president's real motives.
In other words, refusing to feed dogs trained to catch bad guys isn't just an incredibly bad look — it runs directly counter to what Trump is putatively setting out to do.
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