« previous | MUCK HOME | next »
Needed: More War Profiteer Police
The Defense Department wants more manpower to police itself.
The Defense Department's Inspector General says the massive growth in military spending during the past six years has far outpaced its ability to keep track of the money. A new report made public by the Project on Government Oversight outlines how the IG's office plans to grow -- by about 30 percent -- in the next seven years.
The rapid growth of the DoD budget since FY 2000 leaves the Department increasingly more vulnerable to the fraud, waste and abuse that undermines the Department's mission.
and
Furthermore, the demand for IG services to support the [Global War on Terror] and the ongoing operations in southwest Asia has forced us to adjust our priorities, resulting in gaps in coverage in important areas, such as major weapons acquisition, health care fraud, product substitution and defense intelligence agencies.
"Weapons acquisitions" is a pretty broad catagory and probably includes $531 million war ships, like the one the New York Times wrote about a few weeks ago. The Navy has been notoriously bad about cost overruns and runaway spending.
For years, the Pentagon's accounting procedures have been so shoddy that the Defense Department cannot even properly fail an audit. Trillions -- with a T -- of dollars are improperly accounted for. In fact, the Pentagon says there is no way it'll be able to handle a real audit until at least 2016.
Part of the problem may be that many retired military officials go on to work for defense contractors in later life.
The GAO has also been harping on the military's use of money
So it's no wonder that we've been hearing about absurd contracts like a 25-year-old Miami club goer who wins a $300 million contract to arm our allies in Afghanistan.
The Defense Department consumes about 19 percent of all federal spending.
Hire Bunnatine (Bunny) H. Greenhouse!
May 28, 2008 12:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
The DOD takes alot more than 19% of the spending.
It's more like 40% if you count all the right wing militarized tentacles of the US INTEL COMMUNITY (FBI, CIA, NSA, NPO, DARPA, DEA, ICE, DOJ).
We are being raped and looted by the scum pretending to be everyone's flag waiving self important smug hotdog.
The big police superstar in society (FBI, DOJ, JOINT FED, LOCAL TERRORISM TASK FORCES, HLS) are all military right wing scheming criminal who are experts at winning the "legal gov contract fraud game:.
May 28, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
Anyone remember AEY, the bullet-resale operation headed by a 20-year old out of his parents' condo in Miami?
May 28, 2008 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Easily solved... just stop giving them money until they prove they can take care of it...
Easy of course, once we get rid of all those Republicans and Democrats in Washington who continue to vote to give them OUR money without any accountability...
Not a chance, is there, 'cause America LOVES its crooks... IMHO
May 28, 2008 1:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
One of the really sad facts is that a bunch of americans out there who may consider themselves moderate and have in the past voted for such figures as Reagan, Bush and Clinton to a certain have completely given up on their civic duties as citizens. Not to say that any group is immune from such criticism but having lived in the South for most of my life and felt a little bit alienated as I got older because I had serious issues with the church and with Republican policies here in the south(privatization especially). They seemed to always result in unequal distribution of power and income and lacked a little credibility when the results were against them. I hear from people that they care about family values. I hear that they care about the size and scope of the government (aka Libertarian) and they have issues with government spending but where were their concerns when their leader took charge in 2000. Where were those voices when 2004 hit and then shortly thereafter Katrina happened? This leads me to ask if those voices who pushed Bush towards election even really cared about the institution of government and participating with it or if they were more interested in ideology? Because there voices were surely silent when they racked up huge debts, they infringed and pushed the boundries of personal liberties(i.e. they used radically new interpretations to justify their positions, surely this is not conservative ideology but a radical neo-ideology), they decided that because of the environment for which they were in total control of that campaign events and speeches needed to be held in company of the very wealthy or the most secure ( I mean to say that this president and this administration who was supposed to bring accountability and integrity backed to the white House and the government, which from 1994-2006 was a republican majority, could not even have events for the american public unless they were fully vetted and sterilized or they had a whole bunch of money in their bank accounts! These guys and gals failed america, these guys and gals failed their supporters, these guys failed their ideology. And if the above is to be believed then these guys are asking for more money so that we can account for? Let's see some cuts first! Then maybe we can start a Truman like commission, free from impropriety and fully transparency, of course and just maybe then after that we can look upon the DOD with anything other than skepticism and reservations about their integrity as an organization!
May 28, 2008 6:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like this is news. The Bush Administration has done everything possible to obstruct the GAO while systematically starving it of resources. It's all part of the plan.
-AF
Andrew Sullivan Is A Fraud
May 28, 2008 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink