Pentagon Announces First-Ever Audit Of The Department Of Defense

[GennGreymane]

https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-...medium=twitter

"The Defense Department is starting the first agency-wide financial audit in its history," the Pentagon's news service says, announcing that it's undertaking an immense task that has been sought, promised and delayed for years.

Of the tally that is starting this week, chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White said, "It demonstrates our commitment to fiscal responsibility and maximizing the value of every taxpayer dollar that is entrusted to us."

"Beginning in 2018, our audits will occur annually, with reports issued Nov. 15," the Defense Department's comptroller, David L. Norquist, said.

The Defense Department has famously never been audited, despite receiving hundreds of billions of dollars annually and having more than $2.2 trillion in assets.

For the Pentagon to get to this point, it has been, as they say, a process. The U.S. government established requirements for each agency to present financial statements back in the 1990s. But for more than 20 years, the Department of Defense has lagged other agencies that were following modern accounting standards, reporting what they received and spent.

In 2010, Congress included a requirement in the National Defense Authorization Act that gave the military "an extra seven years to clean up the books and get ready," as Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa said last year. That set a new deadline to be ready for an audit by September 2017.

In late 2016, reports emerged that Pentagon officials had "buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, as The Washington Post reported.

In January, the Government Accountability Office said, "serious financial management problems at the Department of Defense (DOD) that have prevented its financial statements from being auditable." The agency listed the Defense Department as its prime example of major impediments to attempts to render an opinion on the U.S. government's financial statements.

To carry out the audit, the Pentagon says it will deploy 2,400 auditors to go over records and examine bases, property and weapons of a federal department that had a budget of $590 billion last year.

As for how the audit would work, Jim Garamone of the official DoD News agency reports that the department's Office of the Inspector General has "hired independent public accounting firms to conduct audits of individual components — the Army, Navy, Air Force, agencies, activities and more — as well as a departmentwide consolidated audit to summarize all results and conclusions."

The Defense Department's lack of a financial reckoning hasn't hurt its funding. Last month, Congress approved nearly $700 billion for the department — some $100 billion more than last year's budget and billions more than the $639.1 billion that had been initially requested by President Trump.

The Pentagon audit would deliver on a campaign pledge by Trump. He was one of several candidates, including Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, to make that promise — perhaps in the knowledge that the audit had already been federally mandated.

After taking office, Trump later nominated Norquist, a former Department of the Army employee whose experience includes stints on the staff of the House Appropriations Committee and as the chief financial officer of the Department of Homeland Security, as the Pentagon's comptroller.

This summer, Norquist was asked by Defense News if the looming audit was "the biggest bugaboo of the job."

Norquist replied, "I don't think of it as a bugaboo. I think of it as a great opportunity."

An audit would allow his office to find errors more easily, Norquist said, and to analyze the Pentagon's data to look for patterns and trends that could help make it more efficient.

"It is important that the Congress and the American people have confidence in DoD's management of every taxpayer dollar," Norquist said this week.

[Ghostpanther]

Good. Another campaign promise Trump is trying to keep.

[Ripster42]

Good. Another campaign promise Trump is trying to keep.

Not really a hard one to keep as it has been scheduled to take place for years. The only reason it didn't occur under obama is because the GOP delayed it until the pentagon could get their books in order.

[Lenonis]

Good. Another campaign promise Trump is trying to keep.

It's always best to read the article before getting on your knees to avoid embarrassing yourself in your desire to praise someone...

The Pentagon audit would deliver on a campaign pledge by Trump. He was one of several candidates, including Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, to make that promise — perhaps in the knowledge that the audit had already been federally mandated.

Trump doesn't get any credit for this, sorry.

[CostinR]

Trump doesn't get any credit for this, sorry.

No he doesn't, but James Mattis and the people he, not Trump but he, appointed do.

Congress has wanted an audit since 1990 on the Pentagon while the Pentangon has generally stubbornly refused to play ball on the issue. I'd say Mattis deserves a lot of credit if he goes through with this fully AND implements the necessary measures to deal with government waste.

[Grapemask]

It's crazy that it even took this long to have audits done for such a massive budgetary sink. Maybe an annual audit will keep the ridiculous contract work in check.

[Ripster42]

It's crazy that it even took this long to have audits done for such a massive budgetary sink. Maybe an annual audit will keep the ridiculous contract work in check.

One can only hope.

[TheCount]

The days of the DoD spending 1000$ a month on donuts is over!

[mvaliz]

It's crazy that it even took this long to have audits done for such a massive budgetary sink. Maybe an annual audit will keep the ridiculous contract work in check.

Puleaze... chances are by the end of this, Blackwater will be contracted to run our entire defense for the next decade.

[Ripster42]

Oh damn, I'd love to be in that

Hehe, so what kind of authority will those auditors have? I mean after expenses which is where people would expect the problems to be, the question for me would be asset valuation. Which means getting expert opinions on assets that may be all over the world and whose existence might be classified. How on earth will that work?

The experts they'll be asking are internal. The DOD has 2400 auditors they're putting on the case. That's literally going to be their job at the DOD until it's finished. I'm guessing a few of the 2400 DOD hired auditors have experience valuing military assets.

[Theinquisition]

Good.

As a Veteran I'm glad this is happening, I saw so much money pissed down the drain it was staggering.

75k for flight computers designed in the 70's, built in the 80's and rebuilt in the 90s

250k for a helicopter blade built 20 years ago.

OR....for a even better example...

On some of the helicopters we have a vibration detection system attached to critical components that would tell technicians when a part was beginning to fail. the information gets uploaded into a 1gb USB stick which then can be transferred to a computer for evaluation blah blah blah.

That 1gb USB stick that can be bought at Wal-Mart for under 10$....yeah, the army gets charged over 500$ for it.

This is just a drop in the planet sized ocean.

I'm a advocate for a strong, well funded military. I'm also a advocate for cost efficacy.

- - - Updated - - -

The experts they'll be asking are internal. The DOD has 2400 auditors they're putting on the case. That's literally going to be their job at the DOD until it's finished. I'm guessing a few of the 2400 DOD hired auditors have experience valuing military assets.

Even then this will probably take a decade to complete.

[Lenonis]

No he doesn't, but James Mattis and the people he, not Trump but he, appointed do.

That's still twisting the issue to try to give Trump credit. This was decided before he took office and set in motion. So the only thing he can be credited for is not undoing it. Which...I mean if we want to go down that road we can give Trump credit that the sun came up today.

Congress has wanted an audit since 1990 on the Pentagon while the Pentangon has generally stubbornly refused to play ball on the issue. I'd say Mattis deserves a lot of credit if he goes through with this fully AND implements the necessary measures to deal with government waste.

Oh, I'll absolutely give credit to the people who execute on this if it's done well with proper transparency. This is long overdue as you mentioned, however my faith that this ends up a valuable exercise is not great.

[Heladys]

This is actually a campaign promise of Trump's that's worth supporting. Assuming this follows through to completion, he'll have earned a rare nod of recognition.

[Celista]

Excellent to hear. Fiscal responsibility and accountability should be the cornerstone of all entity types, whether governmental, corporate or nonprofit.

[Theinquisition]

Excellent to hear. Fiscal responsibility and accountability should be the cornerstone of all entity types, whether governmental, corporate or nonprofit.

Lol, let that conservative out gurl.

[Ripster42]

Lol, let that conservative out gurl.

Many people agree with conservative principles. Many of those people don't believe the GOP represent those principles anymore.

Even then this will probably take a decade to complete.

If that. We'll probably have the preliminary assessment done in a decade. The committee to review the font the audit will be printed in might not meet for 20 years the way this audit has been delayed already.

[ati87]

This entire audit will be useless because I have my doubts that this will result in any changes regarding the budget or the way it's spend.

The defence budget is bloated for a reason

[Dontrike]

Lol, let that conservative out gurl.

Having money sense doesn't really have anything to do with being conservative. That's just common sense. If only more people joined the common sense party.

[Ripster42]

This entire audit will be useless because I have my doubts that this will result in any changes regarding the budget or the way it's spend.

The defence budget is bloated for a reason

I'm guessing it'll turn up a lot more shit like this.

[Omega10]

I am reluctant to think of this as good news since my expectation is that the people doing the audit will be just another bunch of people taking in lots of government money and protecting those that are making a fortune off of Pentagon contracts. After all, this group, if they play their cards right, could be just another group of people getting rich off of Pentagon money.

The $500 USB sticks could very well end up costing $750 or $1000... price increase to cover the cost of the new auditing rules.