politics
Written by Adam Andrzejewski of RealClearInvestigations
Topline: On September 10, 2001, then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld pledged to end what he called a “life-and-death problem”: billions of dollars in wasteful spending and $2.3 trillion in unaccounted spending in the Department of Defense. .
Rumsfeld's battle was brief. When 9/11 happened the next day, the Pentagon had bigger things to worry about than wasteful spending.
So what happened to Rumsfeld's declaration of financial war?
Important facts: At a September 10 press conference, Rumsfeld acknowledged that outdated technology and flawed bookkeeping had prevented Pentagon accountants from tracking $2.3 trillion in taxpayer money. This was equivalent to almost a quarter of U.S. GDP at the time.
All the money was spent, but no one knew where it was being spent. This would have been a huge national story if not for the events of the next day.
Rumsfeld likened the Pentagon's bureaucratic processes to the Soviet Union in terms of the threat it posed to the United States. He also noted that the Department of Defense has spent millions of dollars hiring more employees than necessary and training employees who will only stay for a few years.
Rumsfeld pledged to revolutionize Pentagon accounting, work with Congress to draft new legislation, and create a Defense Business Council to advise the DoD on financial matters.
background: Jim Minnery of the Defense Financial Accounting Office told CBS News in 2002 that few Pentagon employees seemed to care about the millions of dollars in transactions missing from internal balance sheets. According to Minnery, officials simply doctored the affidavits to erase the missing money.
“They have to cover it up,” Minnery said. “This is where corruption happens. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do their job.
Even the Pentagon's attempts to fix its accounting ended up being a waste of money. Rolling Stone reported that two other Pentagon accounting initiatives were scrapped in 2019. Each cost more than $1 billion and took more than seven years to prepare, but they were never even implemented.
In 2023, the Pentagon's accounting system failed internal audit for the sixth consecutive year. This led Sens. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to introduce an audit of the Defense Act of 2023, which would force the Department of Defense to forfeit a portion of its budget if it fails an additional audit. That's it.
Auditors from OpenTheBooks.com found that the Department of Defense spent more than $56 billion on salaries in 2022. There were 24 employees who took home at least $300,000 in pay.
Important Quotes: “From buying a $14,000 toilet to tracking down a warehouse full of spare parts, the Department of Defense has been plagued by wasteful spending for decades. Every dollar the Department of Defense wastes is a dollar not used to support our soldiers, strengthen our national security, or enhance military readiness,” Grassley said. “The Department of Defense must meet the same annual audit standards as all other agencies.”
summary: Despite being one of the most expensive departments in the government, DoD has had known financial problems for decades. The concerns raised by Rumsfeld in 2001 have not yet been addressed.
#WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by Forensic Auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.
Reprinted with permission from RealClearWire.