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Subscribe to RSSThe Defense Department, which has promised to publish a reliable account of how it spends its money by 2017, has discovered that its financial ledgers are in worse shape than expected and that it will have to spend billions of dollars in the coming years to make its financial accounting credible, the Center for Public Integrity reported Thursday.
Win Mcnamee / Getty Images
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. He was joined by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Michael Mullen.
The U.S. military has spent more than $6 billion to develop and deploy new financial systems, but the effort has been plagued by significant added overruns and delays, defense officials told the CPI, a nonprofit investigative news organization.
The Government Accountability Office said in a report last month that although the services can now fully track incoming appropriations, they still can't demonstrate that their funds are being spent as they should be.
Despite the difficulties in putting a new audit system in place, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, in opening remarks to the House Armed Services Committee, pledged Thursday to cut the implementation timeline in half "so that in 2014 we will have the ability to conduct a full budget audit."
"This focused approach prioritizes the information that we use in managing the department, and will give our financial managers the key tools they need to track spending, identify waste, and improve the way the Pentagon does business as soon as possible."
But the effort to speed accountability will itself be costly. Pentagon officials were already budgeting $300 million a year for new accounting systems and other preparations for 2017. The CPI reported that several officials estimated that meeting the earlier deadline could cause that spending to rise beyond a billion dollars over the next three years.
The Pentagon’s bookkeeping has come under increased scrutiny as Congress and the Obama administration have vowed to reduce the federal deficit. The Pentagon requested $671 billion for fiscal 2012, but disputes over the deficit prevented Congress from passing the budget by the Sept. 30 deadline. The department could face substantial cutbacks if a special bipartisan "supercommittee" can’t agree on a formula for reducing the deficit.
As the Associated Press explained this week, the summer debt agreement between President Barack Obama and Congress mandates $350 billion in defense cuts over 10 years, and that figure could grow significantly depending on how the supercommittee slashes at least $1.2 trillion from future deficits. But if the panel stumbles, or Congress rejects its recommendations, the cut to defense could be even deeper as automatic reductions kick in, with half coming from defense.
Panetta testified Thursday that the budget cuts will force difficult choices.
"We have a strong military, but one that has been stressed by a decade of fighting, squeezed by rising personnel costs, and is in need of modernization given the focus of the past decade," he said, referring to fighting insurgencies and terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, international security issues have grown more complex, Panetta said, noting the United States in the future must be prepared to continue dealing with violent extremism as well as the nuclear ambitions of Iran and North Korea, the prospects of cyber attackers who may target American infrastructure, and other threats.
"Our challenge is taking a force that has been involved in a decade of war and ensuring that we build the military we need to defend our country for the next decade even at a time of fiscal austerity," Panetta said in a statement prepared for a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Also testifying before the panel was Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, making his first congressional appearance since taking over as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Oct. 1.
NBC News Pentagon correspondent Jim Miklaszewski and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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And the GOP wants to dump even more money down a rat hole.... Just as Koch Industries to tell you how much they get.... keep it simple.
And people think the government can operate health care? Every enterprise run by the government is broke, and everyone is asking for bigger Government, WAKE UP.
Who's kiddin who, the dough's going to the GOP pocket's of the likes of Dick Cheney (Haliburton) and of course the good ol patriotic country boys who've howlin for for cash to fight 'terrorists"....the rest of the stash been going to keep us "safe from illegals" and to secure the US Mexico border and to arm drug cartels...let's see, what else ya gotta know?
These headlines have "sucked" over the past few days!!!
what's up MSNBC????
You guys usually have the best headlines out here....
Doc,
The trick is quantifying how much is going to Haliburton et al. "A @#%!load" is not a number.
Doc, your ignorance is bliss. Mr Cheney separated from Haliburton Industries when he learned of the potential of the appearance for conflict of interest. But then it is easier to regurgitate than investigate.
What a bunch of inept idiots!
Oh, that's right, Bighand. I'm sure he had no influence WHATSOEVER in arranging for the billions of no-bid contracts that came their way.
And FYI, he kept their stock for years afterwards.
How do you spell sheep? B-i-g-h-a-n-d
Bighand - look here for money Cheney continued to receive from Halliburton while being a VP: http://www.halliburtonwatch.org/about_hal/ethics.html
If you believe the Democrats are any better - then they've accomplished their mission. The two-party system is seemingly designed to get you coming and going. Democrats and Republicans convince people that "the other people" are the problem, when they're really all part of the same system and they're all laughing on the way to the bank. Politics is what rich people do when they're bored with their money. And they buy our votes with money that was ours to begin with. I'm deluded with all of them - and it's not even an election year.
I love the liberal blog spot. It's easy to get that forehead vein to pop out in no time.
Sure Mr Cheney is the worst evil-doer of all time. He probably set up 9/11 just so he could profit.
Really too bad you libtards can't get brain transplats.
Why stop at the Dept of Defense? What about the Justice Department or the Department of Education? Do you think THEY know where their budget goes? Better yet, do you think they will admit where their budget goes? We've already been told about $16.00 muffins and that isn't even the tip of the iceberg.
Let's get serious guys. This isn't a democrat or republican thing, it's a wasteful, bloated, fraudulent government that caters to both sides of the aisle. Each "side" has their own pet projects - the departments they will defend; departments that will launder money - OUR money - and they want more of OUR money to continue doing the same crap. Now they're sitting around saying the rich make too much and they need to pay more. Just how many $16.00 muffins can the government eat?
What we need is a few honest auditors that will go in there and track the money. Then they can take a few middle class moms and have them make up a budget for each department. We'd be out of debt in record time without ever having to raise taxes.
In followup news, a bipartison congressional oversight committee has failed to reach consensus after five years and 50 million dollars spent on trying to determine if the sky is actually blue.
There is absolutely no way the government would allow a private company to receive $6 BILLION for merely revamping their financial reporting system, and then be told they don't know where the money went. But that's the trick isn't it. Our government is the most famous for doing the same thing, what makes you think that they would demand different from a military hierarchy. Given the fact that they don't want you to know where the money went, since they can't legally report back pocket padding of Senators and contractors. So any report on their expenditures is going to be based on fraudulent reports anyways, especially if it tallied up even. We would have to know better.
@Bighand: Darth Cheney kept his stock options. He separated in name only, and profited royally from all the big no-bid contracts Haliburton got from the Bush administration. Funny how in those days the only stem cell lines legal for research were owned by Tommy Thompson, then-Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Oh, what a tangled web they weave...
@Bighand: Liberals wouldn't consider transplanting much smaller brains into their heads. Why should they?
I love how sheep like Bighand makes an idiotic statement about Cheney's ties to Halliburton then when proven wrong he tries to pass his error off as "Really too bad you libtards can't get brain transplats" while misspelling transplants. At least I think he meant transplants since a plat is a plot of ground. Then again he could have meant plots as in plan like in brain transplots (sic). Who knows what goes on in a right wing nuts mind. It's just too bad they don't use the brain God gave them.
This article actually surprises me. While I think the military is full of wasteful spending, we're also pretty anal retentive. I'm surprised there aren't excel spreadsheets for every penny. Guess that's just at the unit level. The article does point the finger at the Pentagon.
Larry--the same fractured logic goes on in right wing nut brains as left wing nut brains. Neither side has an exclusive on stupidity, as evidenced by the knee-jerk "military-industrial complex conspiracy" theorists on the libtard side and the blinders-on-as-usual position of the part of the conservanuts. If you really want intelligent comment, I suggest you scroll back up and re-read Eli, skelmcb, and djdrew. This isn't about parties or picking out pet villians; it's about a deeply entrenched system that allows both parties in general and individual politicians in particular (close your eyes and pick one) to exploit the system. It's SUPPOSED to be about accountability. Under the current system, there is none. The only real difference between Bush and Obama is rhetoric. The ulitmate outcome is the same.
And it's too bad you can't get a brain to begin with. They didn't need 9/11 just so they could profit. Remember, Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11. Ah, but then again, you were one of W's sheep that believed they did, right? You really should try to start thinking for yourself. That's why God gave you a brain...
@bighand: Veins popping out? I enjoy starting my day reading the crap spewed forth by trailer trash rethuglians like you, it's a hoot! You're trying to defend Dick Cheney, perhaps it is you who needs a "brain transplat" L.O.L
Didn't the Whitehouse just increase the DoD budget for the current year? And of course decrease it over 10, like that will happen.
Pertetual war isn't cheap.
@Larry-2260635 - Someone actually took time to read it. I did mean transplant.
It make no difference of the argument on either side. No oe from either side will be satisfied. The crack that liberals created in the ation is now a compound fracture and is not repairable. It is an all-out war within the states between political parties and probably within the private sector.
Long lost are the days of political statesmen doing good for the country.
Lockheed, Haliburton, Raytheon, etc. Problem solved.
How many dam probes, investigations, commissions, special commissions, special investigations, independant investigations, independant probes etc etc do we need to tell you what you already know?!! Quit playing stupid and do your damn jobs! This is NOT the first term for most of you, you already know the answers to this!!
Bighand-3184635 I have to say that Mr. Cheney is the cowardly, most evil scumbag we have seen in years.
@skelmcb, Actually all government departments except for the DoD gets financially audited annually by the GAO. The excuse always being that they are too large to have a full accounting of where everything is spent. So now it looks like the Waste, Fraud, and Abuse that the GOP is always clamoring about is actually in the Republican honey pot of the Department of Defense.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-02-25/politics/defense.department.audit_1_dod-annual-audits-government-accountability-office?_s=PM:POLITICS
http://www.gao.gov/
Why are you libs trying to pin this on Cheney? He left office 3 years ago...remember?
This budget mess is a current problem, and the Pentagon is currently run by a bunch of ivy league eggheads appointed by that great military mind, CINC Obama. Most of them have exactly zero military experience or knowledge, and many undoubtedly "loathed the military" (like Clinton) before Obama gave them the Pentagon gig.
Perhaps the clearest example of their cluelessness is the fact that one of their primary focuses right now is to eliminate the retirement and medical benefits that have made it possible to maintain an all-volunteer force. I guess if that effort is successful, you libs will be really pleased with the return of the draft....I mean, I remember how popular it was with you back in the 60s and 70s!
BINGO!
Bighand
Most of the libs on this FR page really don't know what they're talking about. But they do know that Bush and Cheney were evil. As far as Halliburton is concerned, most of these libs won't admit that President Clinton was the man responsible for them having their contract. In 1997 Halliburton was outbid for the contract by Dyncorp but President Clinton awarded the contract to Halliburton anyway. The Army made the choice because they felt that Halliburton had the extensive knowledge and had demonstrated the ability to do the job. Even Vice-President Al Gore's "reinventing government" division, National Performance Review, had favorable comments about their work.
If you bother to look into things you can find this sort of reporting:
A former Clinton Procurement Official, Steven Kelman, called the allegations against Halliburton "Somewhere between highly improbable and utterly absurd. Clinton's Undersecretary of Commerce said the Halliburton controversy was "overblown".
The progressive/liberals in this country will never accept anything from the right. They will praise everything from the left. They are wrong and America is through with them. The last election didn't wake them up but the next one should.
This is not good news and we are talking about gobs of money here. They really do have to account much better along with just about every other government agency. But I have a question for all of you ready to just directly on the malfeasance band wagon. How many people here can account for every cent they've spent in their home expenditures? How many can account for 90% of the money they spend? Can you tell me how much money you spent on fast food? Coffee? Lunches? Dinners? Breakfasts? Movies?
He emphatically states that reducing military spending will endanger the country.
He is now stating they have no idea of what they are spending on what? How can anybody but a liar or a fool make a statement based solely on (?)..... certainly not facts as he now states it will take years to even figure it out what the facts are.
ANY businessman who refuses to produce books for years get it from the IRS, and can even be threatened with jail. The defense department.........saying they will be produced in 3-6 years is BS
Throw Panetta in jail and torture him.
Bigger is rarely better. What bothers me a lot is that so many want government to get bigger on top of this mess. This is why on the other side many want to reduce the size of government and do not want to give them more tax revenue.
The good news is that the defense budget is the big one. I would bet a lot of that spending has nothing to do with defense in the way most of us think. I would bet that anything that could not pass on its own merits got thrown into a defense budget. So who knows what the real defense budget looks like.
I read a few years ago that NYC had about 700 accounts. One was capital projects. However, that fund wasn't paying for capital projects, but instead was paying for snow removal and many other items that had run out of money in their own account.
It is all a shell game.
same old same old, get used to it as long as republicans and democrats hold office. its time for a third party and candidates that are honest and have no ties to any corporations period. that is the only way that accountability and transparency will happen.
And hypocritical Repubs like you JH spin every single problem on Dems. Clinton did not start a meaningless insane war with a sovereign country that was no threat to the US, Republicans did. Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld, et al. That's where Halliburton made their windfall profits the past decade. You guys spin so much you are perpetually dizzy.
Your rude statements are contradictory.
Where does the money go? They could tell you but then they'd have to kill you.
Yeah, by 2014, just in time where nothing can be done about it and for everyone to forget.
Cut back government for real... RON PAUL 2012
WE have 11 active aircraft carriers. The balance of the world has 10. India is #2 with 2 total. There are 2 more US carriers being built. Add that to the fact that the CIA has no disclosed budget. Add the debt for wars and the interest on that debt. Then, add the Veterans Administration's budget for caring for post war Vets.
What a paranoid country we have become. WE ARE the arms race.
Well to over state the obvious to have the periodical need to spend billions to make the books "Credible" as it were is disturbing to the utmost. That is is a kind way of simply stating "Were going to have to buy a lot of people off".
Do many Americans remember the scandal of Karzai and company [brother]? And the vast sums of fortune laundered and lost through them alone? Corruption is rampit which is why after 10 long exacerbating, grueling, hardened long years we, America, are still fighting two wars we cannot seem to win. A shame truly.
No compete contracts and bottomless budgets are enough to wet any willy in the unyielding decadence of cash flow. ;]
Cheers
Hoops
Yes Clinton did start a war with Iraq. Google Clinton, December 1998, transcript of war with Iraq. You will be able to read all about President Clinton's reasons to bomb Iraq. He said they were a major threat to the US and he even mentioned their nuclear weapons. That ain't spin buddy. You lefties are the spinners. And it was president Clinton who extended a contract ot Halliburton. When the successful war with Iraq got going Halliburton was the only real choice for the job.
Beware of the Military Industrial Complex.
Eisenhower warned us. We didn't listen. Anyone ever notice how militaristic this country has become? I don't know of any other countries that are so focused on war, besides maybe some dictatorships out there.
There is the Federal government and then there is DOD. DOD is actually a shadow government - not accountable to the public. DOD spending $6 billion on a 'fiancial accounting system' is just a smode screen to hide what it does - and protect who profits. DOD controls its auditing through security classifications. It is not possible to audit something that does not officially exist.
DOD is the Republican entitlement program. It started with SAC and the LeMay doctrine of preemptive armagedon. As the Soviets declined - Ronnie Raygun replaced the bottomless pit of the bomb factories with blue sky Star Wars.
Increasing the Defense budget IS making the government bigger - not smaller. That is how the public knows that the 'small government' Republican politcs is simply a lie ...
JH, spider already reminded us that cheney was out of office 3 years ago, so you went back to clinton? Next you'll be saying this is all carter's fault!
It doesn't matter dem or rep in the white house, congress or senate, the pentagon has gone unchecked for years. We need to pull out of 2 (+) wars and cut the budget.
You wonder why a 10-32 screw cost $525.00 ea. 25 cents for the screw $524.75 for the paper work you need to make it.
Just about summs up the whole of our National budget for the last 3 years.
BYL
Good start (2+ wars)...but thanks to Obama just say it.....THREE WARS NOW!!
For ALL you that hate Haliburton. Soros through his political fronts talked down Haliburton for years. Soros BOUGHT a couple million shares of Haliburton and most of the bad mouthin slowed down and is above it's old high. Soros made BILLIONS out of it LOL!
ALL GOV and most corporations are corrupt and hide where the BIG dollars go very well. LOL!
I will always support a strong military but it is way past time to reign in the insane levels of spending of the DOD !!! I will never believe that Republicans are serious about reducing the size of government and cutting government spending until they are willing to take on defense and intelligence spending and economic subsidies to those who least need them, just as I will never believe Democrats are serious about reducing spending until they address entitlement spending and declare that it is not okay to have generations of Americans living on the dole !!!
Jesus Christ! People pissing about Repubs, Dems, Conservatives & Liberals. Doe's it really make a difference? They're all politicians and all out for what they can get for their selves and their top donating constituents. Not one politician in washington could give a @!$%# about the American people. They all only care about the power they can weild around the word. They are ALL responsible for the finanacial disaster this country is in. Not one party can manage the money they extort out of us. And if they really cared about America and its people, they would put a stop to all the aid they give away to foreign countries and focus that money on us and are needy and unemployed.
A good example of Dems V Repubs is the illegal immigration problem. The Repubs want them to work at business' so these companies can have a bigger bottom line profit. The flip side is the Dems want to legalize them so these companies aren' taking advantage of them. Either way the American people come up on the short end.
Therefore finger pointing don't help. The way I see it, they want a divided America. It's the oldest tactic there is, Divide and Conquer. Divide the people, keep them looking at each other and walk right on thru without even being noticed.
This also holds true in society today. Keep racism alive and well and keep people thinking theirs a serious race issue out there while all the time it's really a social class issue. The Rich V Poor and no one notices a thing.
The only way to fix this country at this point is to get rid of every politician in washington and start anew for if we don't it's going to be the same ole status quo. I mean is this country really any better under obama then it was bush? Or is it the same old @!$%# just a different face and name?
GLCSR
The key word here it THEY!! Me thinks that as a Nation, the PEOPLE make up the raw flavor of all things. Microeconomics always overpowers macroeconomics in a FREE SOCIETY!! Personal fiscal mismanagement, private debt, spending over one's means in order to try to live 'like the rich' has trumped all.
Then, the same folks beg for handouts to keep their blackberries, new cars, flat screen tv's and HBO saying that they can't eat while looking over the fence at businesses and other's doing better - and throwing regulations, taxes, and enviromental limits to stop FREE ENTERPRISE!! Even farmers can't field burn because of the 'pollution'.
We end up as a Nation with a pathetic group of whiners...even still as they sit unemployed in a public park with their hi-tech 'toys' yet begging for food!!
Inside the puzzle palace (pentagon) it's not about politics as many think. What is broken and what has continued this path towards failure is the culture. Government employees continue to feel entitled to things they don't need, they spend every cent, shoot every bullet, eat every meal given because they believe if they turn any excess back in...they won't get the same amount next year. Contractors take what they can get, so you can't blame them for the costs....it's the federal employee who has the authority on how much to spend and when. Go over to the "country club" the NRO where they spend money on stuff that will make any taxpayer cringe. 6 Billion on a financial system? really? it's probably because each service and each agency thinks they need to have one of their own! Seriously, these people don't even speak the same language or use the same forms when it comes to a standard process. It's all about what's mine, how I won't have priority if I let someone else do it, and what more can I get. So it doesn't matter who's in office or what political party has control....if we don't break the culture of the federal employee...we're all just riding a spending bicycle without brakes.
its time to get ron paul incharge and time to clean house
The whole political and economic system in America is corrupted and has become a Banana Republic. The once great America has been hijacked by corporate fascists, corrupted politicians and Wall Street speculators. Without a complete overhaul of our major institutions America is headed off the cliff...
@xrayspex; good post! People always want to reduce the Defense budget, because they see it as the largest chunk of the DISCRETIONARY budget, and therefore easiest target. But when you recognize that the Defense budget is dwarfed by the NON-DISCRETIONARY entitlement spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and [when it starts] ObamaCare), then you realize the real problem. http://www.heritage.org/BudgetChartBook/spending-cuts
Defense outlays are only currently only 5% of GDP, while entitlement spending is 10% of GDP and rising. http://www.heritage.org/BudgetChartBook/defense-entitlement-spending
If we eliminated Defense spending entirely, it would still not solve the deficit problem -- it would only delay armageddon. http://www.heritage.org/BudgetChartBook/defense-spending-entitlement-spending-problem
And raising taxes on "the wealthy" can't solve the problem, either: http://www.heritage.org/BudgetChartBook/tax-wealthy-deficits
To sum it up -- if we don't cut entitlement spending, we will never get control of the budget deficit.
dcs, we have to get a handle on all spending, but for an example, the military spent more money last year for AIR CONDITIONING in Afghanistan and Iraq than the entire NASA budget.
Mowdy, you nailed it, right on target.
Ha....."target" the DOD.....because.....
The DOD is the "PRIMARY TARGET" for cuts by the Super 12 Ring Circus Budget Deficit commission. This article is just a prelude to try and reduce the impact of their recommendation to make "BOLD" cuts to the DOD. Think they are going to target the social programs ? Nah, nah, nah.
What about the rest of the Cabinet/sub-Cabinet positions ? DSHS, DHS, DOE, EPA, Secretary of the Treasury, Federal Reserve, and the rest of the wasteful positions. Why isn't anyone getting fired over their lack of financial accountability for taxpayer dollars ? I could provide links to the Fraud, Waste, and Abuse in ANY cabinet position, however the list would be TOO LONG.
Nah, target the DOD.
So what else is new? Of course it goes into the hands of the greedy wealthy elite, esp with non-compete contracts. Most of the Iraq contracts went to Cheney's group only. And then they way over charged the Gov.
On 9/10/2001 Donald Rumsfeld announced that 2.3 trillion dollars was missing in Pentragon funds.
Fortunatley for Rumsfeld and Dov Zakheim ,then defense department comptroller responsible for the missing money, also well noted Zionist and member of many neocon organizations including the Project for a new American Century which advocated a "Pearl Harbor like event within the United States to gain support for war in the middleeast on the behalf of oil interest and Israel, A plane flew into the Pentagon directly into the exact location where auditors and accountants were looking into the matter. All records were destroyed. This is an unmittigated fact. Perhaps Iran will conveniently blow up the exact location where the records are kept on this one and win win again for all my neocon friends.
Yes, actually, to the penny and as a proportion of my total spending, at any time. There are personal finance tracking and budgeting services out there that will do this for you. You can even access them from your smartphone. The best part is that it's FREE. Regardless, if the Pentagon is spending this much on financial IT they should be able to track expenses against budget at the very least!
I'll advocate Mint.com for the Government, or at least pre-paid debit cards or something, gahh!!
I always thought the government was good at only one thing: spend other people's money. It's a disappointment that they don't know what it was spent on. Even women know what shoes they spent how much.
donald rumsfeld......missing $2.3 Trillion dollars,
9/10/01:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4GdHLUHwU
how convenient for conspiracy nuts.
@ Ed -
Congratulations, you're one of the very few who can. (I actually knew there would be at least one who could.) :) I agree with you like I said that they really do need to do a better job of tracking this stuff. My point was that before people run off assuming that they don't know is because of nefarious reasons they should realize that it's really pretty easy to loose track of where a couple of percent of your money goes and just because you do doesn't mean it was wasted. In fact, knowing the government, I suspect there is a very good chance that the wasted money is well document as to where it was spent. Even the black budges will be well documented. They will just be labeled something else like 250 billion rolls of toilet paper. (The real toilet paper purchases will be labeled office supplies.)
Yes killer - I'm going to put my faith and trust in one government agency saying the other government agency is spending money appropriately. My post said we needed "HONEST AUDITORS" - as in NON government. However, if you choose to believe that the GAO giving the thumbs up translates into no waste, fraud or abuse, then I've a bridge to sell you.
Prohibition doesn't work, Bighand-3184635 and eric-in-oregon, you are all suspended for a day for violating rule # 1 of the Code of Honor.
I like how MSN tries to make everyone play nice, while the World is cutting and burning anyone not like them, priceless.
@skelmcb, Are you an auditor skel? You do know that auditor take their independence from their auditees extremely seriously right? You are seriously insulting the profession if you think they could not come to an independent and court verifiable conclusion to their audits.
Hopefully it is going to our soldiers to kill the Muslim nut cases.
Wow, talk about irony there, lmao
Better change your name to "I am a sheep.... Baaaa!"
Loser.
Actually, a lot of the money is not going to the soldiers. Unless you start talking about cuts in the budget, then it will all be cut from soldiers pay.
And truth, you are a racist nut case
Prejudice? Now THAT is funny. THEY are the ones that hate US. We are infidels. You should wake up more often and pay attention to these idiots and their religion and how they treat others and their beliefs. But hey, don't take my word for it, go move over there and find out what happens to you for yourself. Ever here of someone named Daniel Pearl...YEAH...EXACTLY he was BEHEADED by these NUT CASES. Then how about drawing a picture of that stupid Muhammad dude? Yeah, that will get you a death sentence as well. You make a correlation with the Germans and the Jews? WOW!!! You must be a Jew hater. The Jews weren't flying airplanes into buildings, nor were they trying to blow everything and anybody up for their religious beliefs. Get it yet? Geeezzzz!!!!! Enjoy your new home!!!
TruthWillBeTold2u,
Why is it that all the low IQ republicans in every stupid dead brain writing they do this:
"go move over there"
Take your pill and read a book.
Don't ask us for more money until you can tell us how the money you are currently receiving is being spent. "We don't know where the money is going, but we know we need more!" "Oh, and if you want to know where the money is going, that is going to cost you even more!"
Why so much doubt..........that money is going to DEFEND us from every imagined threat in the world at a cost of only twice what the rest of the entire world is spending........so what's the problem? Cheney et al. need to keep their friends fed.
In a civilized place like Russia, people in the government are actually held accountable for their job. Not here. Here we promote screwups to a different post or at 'worst' send them on an early retirement so they can work as a lobbyist making even more money.
I happen to know that the enlisted guys on the equipment repair lines are being asked to document everything they have in their tool chests, right down to the last screw and box. They are being examined under a microscope. This is all well and good, except it accomplishes nothing. They've been doing it all along. The problems are not our front-line, boots on the ground, working military men and women who defend our country with their lives and blood. The problems are with the higher ups who are spending, greasing, "developing," etc., at the military's expense.
I've read where military retirements, pensions, medical benefits are all on the table for cuts. They've already cut their cost-of-living raises. This is not where the gross part of the money is going; but this is where the first cuts take place. AND IT'S WRONG! Follow the money, and everyone will see what goes where. And it's not for the sake of national security, our military personnel, or their benefits.
One need look no further than appropriations committees, our congress, and our president. It's not about our military personnel counting the screws. They know all about being screwed.
@Max^108
Please tell me you meant this sarcastically.
Sarcastic or not, this is what happens in this country - ZERO accountability for the people in the government. One dismal failure after another and the US government officials simply add more layers of inept people to the already inept ranks and waste more money trying to 'solve' the problems it created. There is no fix for being stupid - the stupid just have to be replaced with people who can actually DO THEIR JOB. Merely reducing the government is NOT a solution. We need a government that WORKS. The solution is in firing ineffective people and in prosecution of negligent ones, or those who actually cheat on the job to benefit somebody else.
Bullseye!!!
zapper, you got it, this is not a problem with soldiers! This is an overhead issue, as in all of the pentagon, the management the beurocrats, the top brass. The pentagon is the best place to get your money laundered. The congress keeps spending flowing to them, wonder how much finds its way back to their pockets?
Any cuts will be for care for returning vets, soldiers pay and protection of our fighting force. It will not be in no-bid contracts, kickbacks and generals salaries.
I CAN TELL YOU where the money is going. On Sept 10, 2001, it was in the news that day that Donald Rumsfeld announced that 2.4 trillion dollars was missing from the Pentagon budget. Of course the next day 9/11 happened and everyone forgot about this.
2.4 TRILLION DOLLARS that comes from me and you !!
Projects involving space, advanced tech, ETs, energy, weapons, gravity, etc, - these government projects in the mid-1950s went black. At that time they were no longer in the control of President Eisenhower (he knew he had lost control). These projects were and continue to be funded by money that is missing from the Pentagon as well as money siphoned from other government projects and programs. These black projects operate OUTSIDE the Constitution of the United States and outside the knowledge and control of the Congress and the President. And this money originates from the American taxpayer.
And it is important to know that these black projects involve technologies that would enable us to no longer have to rely on coal, gas, oil or atomic energy – no longer would we have to build or maintain streets and highways as our vehicles would all be silent AND airborne. And that’s not all. Imagine an end to hunger and poverty – worldwide.
Am I ticking you off enough already ?
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to
dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to
assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which
the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the
opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel
them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that
they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these
rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from
the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes
destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish
it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles
and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient
causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by
abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of
abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to
reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future
security.--Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is
now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of
Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of
repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment
of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted
to a candid world.
Tell me that we don't have the right to disolve this government and start over with men of HONOR. I personally think it would be cheaper for us to do it, as the crooks would run for other countries.
Hence the saying, "Good enough for government work"
Max^108,
Like pyrate said "Bullseye"!!!!!
As the saying goes, "you can fool some of the people some of the time, but, you can't fool all of the people all of the time"
way to go MSNBC for the allcaps headline. Do you really think this surprised anyone? OMG WARZ WASTING MONEY LOLZ!!!1!
Don't tell me they can't track what the military spends their money on when the IRS knows exactly how much each United States Citizens earns and the amount of taxes that have been deducted out of our paychecks. This is not only disturbing but it is more proof that we have to keep up the pressure on our elected officials to do their jobs!
Why just the Defense? I would like for EVERY goverment department to fully account for money spent.
I do not believe any can come up with full accounting.
Fire the Generals and Admirals, they are the ones funneling billions to defense contractors.
Most "defense" spending is welfare for billionaires. Most defense systems are obsolete before they are built.
Money for veterans benefits and pay for our enlisted men, give that more.
Money for defense contractors and lobbyiests, is money down the gold-plated toilet!
Pay our military families more, cancel obsolete defence contracts, fire the brass who facilitate theft and corruption on an industrial scale. Send cheating contractors to jail!
We no longer need to build ships and bombers, no one is going to need those in a WW-III scenario.
Most weapons contracts are boondoggles and amount to congress throwing tax dollars away.
More hospitals, less golf courses . Bring home foreign-based troops. Get us out of Germany, Japan, South Korea and the Middle East... its all money wasted!
It is not only what the Pentagon spends on projects that we need like we need a hole in the head, but the amount of money that has been spent in rebuilding what we destroyed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Most of that money was given to contractors using sole source contracts, with little or no oversight, most of the projects remain unfinished and nobody knows where the tens of billions of dollars spent on those projects went.
We are going nuts because the government lent Solyndra half a billion dollars and that proved not to be enough to save that company from being obliterated by heavely subsidized Chinese companies; we are going crazy with Fast and Furious because the Justice Department waited too long in hopes of catching the big guys behind the sale of weapons to MExican drug cartels and the sting blew on our faces; but nobody bats an eye when $1.2T is spent in crusades and much of it is unaccounted for. What a country!
This is why most republicans wanted to retain the "don't ask don't tell" policy employed by the Pentagon. Now, some nosy busybody has asked, and the Pentagon doesn't know. Probably chronic. Comes and goes.
Well Wilieturner, you prove the world is not black and white. Either that or you're good at satire.
Funny, no one really talks about Black Projects or the money stolen from us every year by our weapons makers, contractors, mercenaries, foreign governments, and their allies in the Pentagon. This activity is completely unconstitutional and illegal, at least to us.
Instead, we focus on what the MSM serves up to us. People need to understand, we have 2 governments: One is a corporate sham that legally has to play along as a "Republic" but really just controls you. If not, we would have a revolution.
The other government is also corporate-controlled and run by factions within our military and intelligence services. However, you have no say in that one. It's agenda is world domination by all mean necessary to control markets.
Don't believe me? How about I give you a small little hole-in-the wall where you can see a glimpse of this government.
Go to PNAC.com. Pay attention to the names you see there and what they state.
I think advertising is against the COH.
Imagine that, inefficiency in the Government.
At least this money pit is mentioned in the Constitution.
Just another reason to validate the Rich's view on raising taxes. Why should i pay more when Washington shows no fiscal restraint. They spend like a drunken sailor.
I mean they spent 6 BILLION on systems to account for the money, but they don't even work. Imagine the amount of people that you could feed for 6 billion, let alone if you subcontracted it to a private enterprise it would have cost like 250million instead of 6 billion.
Just further shows the rich have a valid point, one that everyone else should agree with considering this arcticle.
With 6 billion I could hire 10,000 people at $60,000/year, plus benefits, for 6 years, and still have money left over.
How can they say they don't know where the money went? They should at least know who has been paid, and have a copy of the invoice and contract. If they are making payments without those items, someone should be held accountable. This isn't rocket science!
It's about time that accountability of the funds is established. A good place to start is the numerous conferences held each year put on or attended by members of the Armed Forces. There was just one that happened this week in the heart of the Nation's Capitol.......HMMMMM, I wonder what the bottom line to the Army was on this one?????
These are the people we count on to protect our country? They can't even count how can we count on them to protect us?
Gee -- money disappears in the Pentagon. This is news?? But hey -- let's increase the defense budget. I mean -- were not safe. We only spend more on our military than the rest of the world combined!!
It's like our health care. We spend more on it in our country than the rest of the world combined, yet we're not any healthier. But some important folks are getting very rich off of it.
How the hell are GOP good-ol'-boys supposed to profiteer off of the wars if the Pentagon starts keeping track of things? This is nothing more that a liberal conspiracy to weaken the country by defrauding GOP doners of the profits they deserve. They've spent decades setting up this cash cow and now the Obama admin wants accountability?
Obama just increased their budget, how is this a GOP vs Dem issue?
Geez.. I know, right! lol
Ask Eric Holder, perhaps he got some of that money for his Fast and Furious Fiasco! Or maybe Obama pocketed some for the good folks at Solyndra!
GOP rich boys? The last time I looked, John Kerry was the wealthiest person in the U S Congress. I guess Ted Kennedy lived under the poverty level too? Jeffery Immelt, BHO's jobs adviser who sent GE divisions to China, lives at the local shelter I guess. Have you ever heard of George Soros? Where are his loyalties? Or do you want me to list other mega contributors?
OK plumber, let me spell it out for you. The contractors for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were and still are overwhelmingly republican doners and republican ex-military officers. When these folks get together, it looks just like the CPAC conference minus a few dozen extremist white preachers. These are the kind or republicans that hate the Tea Party because they screw up the heart of the GOP, easy money from the government.
While the people you mentioned may of may not have had anything to do with profiteering from lucrative no-bid government contracts for the war, they, and you, are way off topic.
Probably the "contractors" developing their "better financial tracking system" have written in their own secret ways of hiding where the money is going.....into their pockets and the pockets of all of the other "contract services." It is time the military goes back to doing everything themselves rather than contracting more and more of it out to "private" industry. Eisenhower warned us what would happen if we allowed the military/industrial complex to get a foothold on the economy and the government. It is that complex, along with the Illuminati/Trilateral Commission/et al, that really controls our entire nation and our relationship with the rest of the world.
They know exactly how much money is coming in, but they don't know where it is going. Sounds like a great slush fund for someone.
I don't thing any goverment agency knows where their money is going.
Sure they do- it goes when the lobbys tell them.
Defense spending is welfate for the rich!
Gotta hide all those dollars going to Area 51 and the UFO research. And arming third world rebels. Oh, and the prostitutes.
OK, I'm kidding about the prostitutes, but they proved the UFO thing in the movie Independence Day.
Kind of makes me wish the "super commitee" bombs out. Then the cuts would come equally across the entire government and there wouldn't be any more sacred cows.
I'd like some of that stuff you are using....you must be the world's biggest optimist to think that anything will be done with or without the super committee. Business as usual my friend will keep the rich getting richer and to hell with jobs for the peons........let them live in tents........
Tents card board boxes but not on government lands.
Unfreaking believable!!!!If we were in charge of department in a company in the private sector and couldn't accouint for OUR BUDGET and OUR DOLLARS....We'd be out on my ear. These same people are living it up, drawing fat salaries and believe they are doing a fantastic job. They should be fired!!! And for you clowns that BELIEVE that it's the GOP'S fault....I feel very sad for you that you are so bitter. I KNOW.....THE DEMOCRATS HAD 'NOTHING' TO DO WITH THE MESS THIS COUNTRY IS IN.........
Democrats had plenty to do with the TOTALITY of government debt, but THIS STORY is about military spending, is the military the pet of the right, or the left? Go ahead, take your time, when you figure it out, we can continue this discussion.
Gee Fred...Wasn't there a surplus when Dubya took over?? Gee What happened Fred? Republicans created this debt and quit the GOP lie about that.
Beware of the Military complex.
Dwight D Eisenhower
All parties and all "representatives" are responsible for dumping money into the "job creating" rat hole of 'DEFENSE'. Scare the heck out of people with all sorts of new "threats" and then dump some more of our never ending money into Halliburton, Koch and programs in each state that needs funds to get their shills......oops "representatives" elected to do the same cycle over, and over, and over..............and..................
If we had term limits a lot of problems would be solved right off the bat.
The defense industry is bigger than Haliburton and evey other name you liberals like to bring up. The waste and lack of accountability is endemic to the entire government and every administration. There are hundreds of thousands of workers in the defense industry, people that are actually working for a living. There is at least as much waste and fraud in the government entitlement programs and there is no return on that investment. Social Security paid to people that are dead. Disability payments to people that aren't disabled. Welfare, food stamps and unemployment payments to those who can, but don't want to work. All of that waste doesn't bother you liberals because you get your share at the expense of someone else. Waste in the defense budget bugs the hell out of you only because you don't get your share. I'm not defending the waste at the Pentagon, but I'm sick of liberals stretching this into a Republican issue. Bring up Haliburton, bring up Koch for the millionth time as your only argument! Give it a rest!
Your so called entitlements do not compare to military waste.
Realist-1226632
ass
Your so called entitlements do not compare to military waste.
From the early 60's (the age of Kennedy Camelot) the % of the federal budget spent on military spending has fallen by 2/3rds while "human resource" spending has quadrupled.
As for the Pentagon not knowing where money is going, neither does the SEC and the fines it assesses. Just about every government office or bureau is negligent. For last several years, the Federal Government has been required to issue a financial statement with similar requirements to the what private companies are required to issue. As a part of such statements, auditors give non-qualified, qualified, or partially qualified opinion. Pretty much the entire Federal Government gets a qualified opinion because their financial houses are in disorder to a point that an opinion can't be given.
It's not just the ones we approve of or disapprove of. Trillions of dollars are transferred by Force and there is negligible accountability by anyone.
Well Surprise, Surprise!!!
Hey, cut 50% off their budget next year and another 50% every year there after until they can rediscover bookkeeping. I'm willing to bet that will help motivate them.
Sorry folks, but my husband spent 23 years in the army and I can tell you that nobody in that organization had the faintest concept of fiscal responsibility. They had no motivation to manage money then and they don't have one now. Until Congress and the White House lose the Pavlovian response to the Pentagon's demands for more money with its threats that failure to provide it puts our troops in danger, they never will have any motivation to fix things.
Well, I had 20 years, retiring in 1990, and my budget was a set amount. I could not spend anything over what my class 8 budget was (medical supplies). Every year, in Sept, I had to spend down to use my left over or another part of supply would get my funds. So fiscal responsibility is in place at lower levels but maybe in higher levels has to much fudge room. I could tell you at anytime, how much I had remaining as my S4 and DMSO at Division, stayed on my back the entire year for accountability..
Surprise, surprise! Don't count on accountability anytime in the future. The Wall Street War profiteers wouldn't be able to scam like B&W and Halliburton.
>The U.S. military has spent more than $6 billion to develop and deploy new financial systems, but the effort has been plagued by significant added overruns and delays, defense officials told the CPI, a nonprofit investigative news organization.
The DOD has cost overruns and delays? I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you!!!!
This just makes me sick to my stomach. I may just stop reading the news altogether.
What area of the federal government has credible financial accounting?
did not Donold Rumsfield say on 9-10-2001 the day before THE DAY that they cannot account for almost 2.3 trillion thats with a T folks. Can you guess where the the supposed accounting office and books were kept for such things......oh yea building 7 that fell into it's footprint in the late afternoon on that DAY.
Paper $1.19. Pencil $.25 Ability to read the books... priceless.
Indeed Henry. And to think there are some who would rather spend more on bombs and less on books. Incredible!
Um, a simple accounting system would accomplish the ability to track expenditures. What is up with this billion dollar tracking system ? Outsourcing ? I mean, what the heck ?
They most likely contracted this job out as well and the contractor has been sitting on a finished product for months but continue to 'milk the fat cow.'
DOD QuickBooks. What more do you need?
This country and it's elite are corrupt to the core and are bleeding the rest of us dry. Occupy the Pentagon
After reading this article, I almost wish somebody would fly a plane into it. Or maybe an entire fleet of planes. This is sickening.
It looks to me that things will not get better in my lifetime. I'm 59.
When your funds get low or cut, you tend to find a way to track it ALL! Funny how too much cash can cause your book-keeping to become shody.
What a complete shock. Another CORRUPT and WASTEFUL Government Aqgency. When the "fish stinks," it stinks from the HEAD Down. O-BUNGLE'S Head is as CORRUPT as you can get. Say Good-Bye THIEF!
Hey Allen-1380274, you're making me laugh so hard it hurts! Waste in the military started with Obama? You and bighands should go in together for "brain transplats". WooHooHoo, thanks for the laughs!
Hey Allen-1380274 - knowing that someone already said it, but you are STUPID!
Every single D..... government "spender" needs to go visit little old ladies in the nursing home whose house was seized for the misspent taxes! Sit there and talk about her rose garden and hold hands til they get a consciense. People actually suffer to pay these taxes! And they can't even keep up with where they spend it!!! There oughta be a law! Oh, there is. Don't pay... go to jail.
Fiscal irresponsibility in the defense industry is as much a national security concern as are the terrorists who regularly plot against American interests. The jobs issue related to defense spending rings hollow with me since I would rather see more roads being repaired all over Amererica than having 100 super jets with spare engines.
We are smart people and should insist that our Congressional representatives do a better job mandating how efficiently OUR tax dollars should be spent.
Interesting? The teaparty isn't saying a word about this type of spending! Hypocrites all!!! The got all over Secretary Gates and President Obama for the small round of cuts they pushed before Gates left.
On September 10th, 2011, then Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld held a press conference where he said the Pentagon couldn't account for 2.3 TRILLION dollars in spending.
On September 11th, the one & only place hit in the Pentagon attack were the accounting & computing offices where the financial information about this debacle was stored.
And now, 10 years later, we're hearing the same song and dance. The Pentagon doesn't know where the money is going. Bull Feathers.
I was hoping someone else would remember that scenario. Someone should check Cheney's pockets for loose change.
Lol decade off, but Gov't's accounting seems to work the same way.
They know exactly where the money is going. They just don't want to tell us.
They just want to keep the money coming and the GOP will see to that along with the democrats in the pockets of the big arms companies and military industrial complex. Eisenhower warned us...
Somewhere there is a rich Afghan tribal leader laughing hysterically, terrorism does pay...
If there was any one blame on the state of our current economy crisis, in my opinion this is it.
But no one holds anyone accountable. It is as if it is not even happening and no one is supposed to ask about it. The peons are supposed to say nothing, suffer and struggle. It is pure insanity!
It is like every other artical you read, !% getting very very very rich off the other 99%. I don't believe they will stop this, just sweep it under the rug, same as they have in the past.
You can bet that if even one $ 100 bill had been missing from any of those planeloads of cash, there would have been a very thorough investigation that would not have ended until the guilty party was caught and the shortage made up, with interest!
To this day this money has not been found an no one has been apprehended.
If you read the article:
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things.
For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be "the largest theft of funds in national history."
I am not making this up folks! Jacques is correct, 2.3 trillon dollars can not be accounted for? Excuse me? That is TOTALLY and I mean TOTALLY unacceptable.
On 9/10/2001 Donald Rumsfeld announced that 2.3 trillion dollars was missing in Pentragon funds.
Fortunatley for Rumsfeld and Dov Zakheim ,then defense department comptroller responsible for the missing money, also well noted Zionist and member of many neocon organizations including the Project for a new American Century which advocated a "Pearl Harbor like event within the United States to gain support for war in the middleeast on the behalf of oil interest and Israel, A plane flew into the Pentagon directly into the exact location where auditors and accountants were looking into the matter. All records were destroyed. This is an unmittigated fact. Perhaps Iran will conveniently blow up the exact location where the records are kept on this one and win win again for all my neocon friends.