In typical Groundhog Day fashion, the Pentagon has failed yet another audit. Yet, for the most part, nobody seems to care in the media or government. When you fail year after year, it becomes the rule versus the exception to fail basic standards.
This recent failure marks the fifth year that the Defense Department has failed to meet the audit requirements set by Congress. That’s right, dear reader, your former War Department can’t fully account for all of its assets.
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So how bad was it? If you ask the lead money man of the five-sided building, it wasn’t that bad; I mean, it’s only a couple trillion dollars worth of stuff that we can’t find, that’s not that bad.
SecDef Austin's DoD has worse problems than a CR. @HouseGOP need to de-woke the military, repeal vax mandates, and cut waste, fraud, and abuse that plagues the Pentagon every day.
This comes on top of their fifth failed audit in a row.
Not a good look for the Pentagon.. #ampFW https://t.co/oEiCIkYLD6
— FreedomWorks (@FreedomWorks) November 28, 2022
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It’s Bad
Of the 27 agencies audited within the Department of Defense, only seven received a passing grade. To put some dollar amounts to that, only 39% of the $3.5 trillion in assets are accounted for, leaving a deficit of about $2.2 trillion in assets unaccounted for.
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It can be challenging to conceptualize numbers this big in an agency that takes up over half of the discretionary funding in our country. To break down a bit what we mean when we refer to assets, this includes everything from the below list, which isn’t all-encompassing:
- 2.9 million military personnel
- Equipment and weapons
- 19,700 aircraft
- 290 ships
- Buildings and supplies spread out over 4,860 installations and sites worldwide
The audit also encompasses activities like the DOD health care system, which provides medical care for 9.6 million active-duty retirees and their families.
Suppose you’ve never been to a military base. In that case, they are like small cities with their own police departments, schools, transportation systems, and housing structure.
So these audits don’t just cover our wartime assets, such as bullets and warheads, but it also covers the department’s personnel care structures, such as beans and beds. So not knowing where over 60% of their assets are doesn’t just speak volumes about the DOD’s ability to take the fight to the bad guys but also their ability to care for the American warfighter.
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For those with a long memory, this kind of outrageous irresponsibility isn’t new.
Readers may recall a very interesting press conference on September 10, 2001, when Donald Rumsfeld said the Pentagon couldn’t account for $2.3 trillion.
75,000 new IRS agents are going to be scouring your Venmo while the Pentagon loses another $5 trillion dollars.
— Starbucks Unions Form Like Voltron (@TweetyMctwat) November 28, 2022
What Have We Learned?
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Pentagon Chief Financial Officer Mike McCord doesn’t seem too concerned, stating:
“We failed to get an A. I would not say that we flunked.”
Leave it to a Pentagon bureaucrat to spin being the sole government agency to have never passed an audit as not a complete failure. Because as a taxpayer or a parent of a service member, knowing that the machine built to care for your warfighters is, at best, getting a D- in audit readiness.
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Mr. McCord went on to say that these failed audits are “teachable moments,” touching on the war in Ukraine, saying:
“That’s to me a really great example of why it matters to get this sort of thing right – of counting inventory, knowing where it is and knowing when it is arriving.”
Now that is an interesting comment; curious how well that will age if the Republicans get their way and can audit the military aid sent to Ukraine. The most teachable aspect of this repeated and expected audit failure is that business will continue to go on as usual in the endless spending pit that is the Pentagon.
The U.S. #military has never passed an audit.
💣 💣 💣The #Pentagon's budget (that we see) is $800 billion.
🪖 🪖 🪖Of 27 departments, only 7 were able to account for their money!
🏦 💴 🏦 #Pentagon math is routinely off by hundreds of billions!☮ 🕊 ☮ 🕊 ☮ 🕊 pic.twitter.com/DO3TcomEoq
— Lynn Schore (@LynnSchore) November 28, 2022
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Scarce Accountability
It’s fitting that the Pentagon can’t account for roughly $2 trillion worth of assets and that there is no accountability for their lack of accountability. Last year after they failed their fourth consecutive audit, lawmakers attempted to pass the Audit the Pentagon Act of 2021.
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This legislation would have penalized the department by returning 1% of the budget to the Treasury if they failed to meet their audits. That’s right, a bipartisan group of Senators dared to penalize the Pentagon for not meeting Congressionally mandated standards.
Though one has to ask – if they don’t know what happened to $2 trillion, how are they going to notice a 1% cut?
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Senator Bernie Sanders, who cosponsored the bill with Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Ron Wyden (D-Ore), and Mike Lee (R-Utah), argued:
“If we are serious about spending taxpayer dollars wisely and effectively, we have got to end the absurdity of the Pentagon being the only agency in the federal government that has not passed an independent audit.”
The reality is nobody is serious about spending taxpayer dollars wisely, especially when it comes to the defense machine. The Department of Defense is on track to receive $1 trillion in its annual budget come 2027.
As expected, the Pentagon FAILED its 5th audit in a row.
The Pentagon received 2,000ish NFR’s (Notice of Findings & Recommendations, aka weaknesses/mistakes in the financials that won’t be prevented or even detected) in 2021… And 2022. Meaning a whole year led to JACK SH*T.
— Libertarians: Diligently Plotting (@LibertariansDP) November 24, 2022
The Real Cost
If you are still having a hard time wrapping your mind around why the Pentagon must be held to task for its inability and unwillingness to track its funding and assets appropriately, let’s dial it down to what the Pentagon is ultimately tasked to do; take the fight to the bad guys.
The office of the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) recently issued a report on how well we allocated funds and executed our mission.
The report didn’t mince words when it came to the effectiveness and efficiency of the $145 billion that was poured into that country, stating:
“The United States sought to build stable, democratic, representative, gender-sensitive, and accountable Afghan governance institutions. It failed.”
Touching on the more significant issue behind the failed War Department, professor Chris Mason of the U.S. Army War College was quoted in the report:
“U.S. efforts to build and sustain Afghanistan’s governing institutions were a total, epic, predestined failure on par with the same efforts and outcome in the Vietnam war, and for the same reasons.”
The actual cost of the Pentagon’s ineptitude isn’t just lost assets and taxpayer dollars; it’s American lives and America’s reputation.
Sigar: The U.S. Gov has spent 20 years and $145 billion trying to rebuild Afg. The DOD has also spent $837 billion, which 2,443 American troops and 1,144 allied troops have been killed and 20,666 U.S. troops injured. 66,000 Afg troops have been killed and 75,000 other injured pic.twitter.com/rzXSGrrsle
— Said Najib Asil (@Najib_Asil) November 17, 2022
Who Are They Fighting For?
Historically it’s been considered a faux pas to question the military arm of our government. It was considered akin to disgracing the everyday soldier, sailor, airman, and marine.
The botched withdrawal of Afghanistan has finally stirred some in the media, government, and regular population to start questioning the motivations and credibility of the military brass and civilian leaders charged with supporting and defending our great Constitution.
Senator Grassley pointed out last year:
“We’ve seen example after example of excessive and inefficient spending by the Pentagon, and every dollar squandered is a dollar not being used to support our men and women in uniform.”
Who are the actual benefactors of the Pentagon’s gross financial negligence? One merely has to look at the military-industrial complex to see who is supported.
Take the Pentagon’s endeavor to increase shipbuilding production. They estimate the program to cost $27 billion annually between 2023 and 2052.
However, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says that estimate is off by $120 billion overall. Mr. McCord said of the audits:
“The process is important for us to do, and it is making us get better. It is not making us get better as fast as we want.”
The speed is exactly where you want it to be.
The Pentagon just had a fifth annual audit. Like the previous four, it failed.
We're facing crises—from poverty to the climate—that require resources to address.
It's time to stop pouring those resources into a war machine that has never successfully accounted for its spending.
— Institute for Policy Studies (@IPS_DC) November 22, 2022
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As a veteran, there is simply no excuse for this mismanagement and misconduct! The upper echelons including SecDef need to be held criminally liable for this malfeasance. There is no excuse. This sounds like the kind of corruption that should be more indicative of Russia or the Ukraine than the USA. We MUST do vastly better!!
Kathleen, I’m curious. For what calendar or fiscal year are you reporting? Since you mentioned 2001, when Republicans were in charge of the government, I’m just curious about which administration/s were in control during the period you’re reporting. You have not mentioned it, and I presume that if Democrats were responsible, you would have no hesitancy in saying so.
AGAIN, you folks have hoodwinked your gullible followers with “not the whole truth.” You have fashioned a clickbait headline, then you have deliberately withheld important facts that could actually INFORM these readers, except for your desire not to inform them and their desire not to know the truth. Yes, I can see how Trump and his ilk love the undereducated. You’re spoon feeding them merde, telling them it’s ice cream, and they believe it.
You know, you should be ashamed that you take advantage of people this way. I’m under no illusion that any of your readers will heed my questioins or comments, but I guess that’s what I get from being one of the over educated.
Bev, being an over-educated person, you obviously understand the value of $2,000 billion. This isn’t so much a political scandal as it is bureaucratic theft. And, it helps theft isn’t limited to the $2.3 trillion at the Pentagon. Recently, yes in November 2022, The FBI director had to scat out of an embarrassing Congressional hearing to board a small government owned and operated jet to travel for his personal family vacation. Now, I would just be guessing, but I don’t think the pilots that flew C. Wray and his family to their vacation were contracted commercial pilots flying a government plane. More likely, they were military pilots provided off the books by the Pentegon. This is only one example of bureaucratic largesse and it’s nothing new. I have personal knowledge of similar bureaucratic largesse extending back to the 1990’s, though on a smaller scale and involving much less powerful bureaucrats.
Unfortunately, the deep state bureaucrats are not completely replaced at the end of every four year presidential term and the moral values of a civil servant generally extend over several terms. Bottom line is that the Pentagon’s values cannot be attributed so much to Presidents Trump and Biden as they can be attributed to Presidents Bush, Obama and Clinton and Congressional members who have served at least 4+ years, be them republican or democrat (How long was Biden in Congress before being elected to 2 terms as VP?).
Well, if you are reading this and have made it this far Bev, my point is that the lack of fiduciary responsibility is an extended lack of bureaucratic accountability by elected officials over decades and cannot be attributeded solely to one political party. That dues not justify the lack of fiduciary responsibility and accountability.
And while you make some valid points, because the Pentagon is traditionally bloated and unaccountable, you still did not answer my question. (Perhaps you could not, unless you are the original author of the click-bait article.) Thank you for acknowledging my prodigious level of education. Out of curiosity, is that why you referred to two trillion as 2,000 billion? Did you want to test whether or not I recognized a trillion as a thousand million? Just asking.
Hod people responsible in the pentagon for these huge errors in money that is appropriated for them. Keep track of every penny and if they don’t then this should be investigated to where the money has gone immediately!
Check under UKraine and Clinton and Biden’s mattresses for the missing money. The Secretary of Stated miss placed 6 billion when Killary was Secretary of State. And don’t forget the Billions of dollars stolen from Haiti under the watch of the Clinton Foundation.
I think the democrats are simply divvying it up amongst themselves, because they know they will never be held accountable. They do whatever we allow them to do and now that they have fraudulently stolen the reins of power, they’re doubling down on the corruption. They’re stealing as much as they can from us before the total collapse of our country, and they’ll simply fly off to the Bahamas or Switzerland to continue their lavish lifestyle on our dime, when the collapse happens. FJB and the entire illegitimate, marxist democrat party.
Check the trunk of Hunter’s car!
R&D cost trillions of $’ers but what about the $Trillions Barry O’Biden and his jolly band of DNCommunist have spent with NO accountability at all…When do we get to see “Where the money went”????????
Go find it. But to the serious question. U, who nickel and dime the people giving their lives, protect Europe!! HOW DARE U TO Talk OF DISOWNING THEM!!! Shame ON YOU? I BET Putin pays you or you are just stupid? Ukrainians get just tiny part of it.
Seems like anytime a Democrat is in charge of a Dept, they seem to misplace money. Hillary while in charge of the State Department lost billions ( none ever accounted for ) will the illegal activities ever be stopped! These lost billions have gone into peoples pockets and to cause problems ( that later amount to wars ):around the world. And people wonder why other countries hate us so much.
Hm. Let’s start with good news. Who are the 7 agencies that were accountable?
The 7 units that passed the audit should receive full funding in the upcoming budget. The 20 units that did not pass the audit should have their funding cut by 50% in the upcoming budget. My personal experience with one Federally funded activity is that senior bureaucrats have government credit cards that they use to fund personal projects. It would not surprise me at all to be told that these personal projects were a big part of the failed audits.
And somehow the military is the most respected institution in government while they rob us blind, and the brass sells themselves out to corporations. How stupid can the public be?
Your references are social media?
The Biden Syndicate has it.
How about that audit of the Barry O’Biden Crime Family?????……Ther has to be a lot more than $2T missing in this matter that we are not going to hear about from msm……
I’d like to audit the entire DNCommunist party…..
It’s difficult to keep track of all the money democrats have pilfered over the decades.
When it was announced that the Pentagon lost $2.3 trillion in 2001, almost immediately after, an “airliner” flew straight into the offices at the Pentagon where the money was lost from, destroying all files and documents about where the money could have went. Interestingly, it was also the only side of the Pentagon to have finished a new reinforced support structure as well, so the “jet” went only as far as the offices but not far enough to destroy a majority of the Pentagon. The government is not your friend and is lying to you every day.
I think it’s also important to mention that there was no evidence of any debris left from that plane. None! How does a 757 just disintegrate completely? It doesn’t.
Have they looked behind the sofa?
Man, I’m ready to pull my hair out. We have to deal with so many kids who do not understand the democrat promises of free shit today is going cost THEM tomorrow, at 600-700% APR. WE ARE BROKE. YOU CANNOT DRINK YOUR WAY TO SOBRIETY. YOU CANNOT SPEND YOUR WAY OUT OF BANKRUPTCY. Kids today are so naive. They proudly vote democrat not knowing that is National Suicide. But hey, as their teachers say, it’s all Bush’s fault!
who the heck put Hunter Biden in charge of the PENTAGON MONEY? FIND THE BIG GUY’S 10%
check his DEPENDS
Does this mean we are going to have another 9/11 style attack…..asking for a friend.
Financial treason
Hunter has it…….
Why Are They Not Be Held Accountable Those Trillions Could Be Used For VA Cause They Say They Are Going To Limit For Care
This is straight out of the taxpayers’ pockets. This is completely on SECDEF Lloyd Austin. He needs to go….now! Thank a democrat.
I’LL GIVE THEM A ONE FINGER SALUTE
What we have now is a government of traitors bent on destroying this country. What they don’t realize is that they also will be eliminate since they no longer will be useful!!
Time to start defunding them until they find were the money went.
A trillion here, a trillion there. Pretty soon it adds up to a lotta money, right? Oh, well. As long as their ponytails are straight, and their pronouns are correct…
Fire all the top military brass and start over. There are no leaders in this crowd just a bunch of self-serving liberals and do nothings. These scum bags are no better than welfare rats.
I don’t know where it is either or any part of it? Somehow I have a picture in my mind of Sergeant Schultz bewildered and repeating, “I know nothing..”