Article by:

Sharyl Attkisson

@SharylAttkisson

DATED: MARCH 15, 2023 BY SHARYL ATTKISSON

Republicans are probing why the Pentagon has failed its fifth consecutive audit designed to prevent waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

In a letter sent to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, Oversight and Accountability (GAO)Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) along with Subcommittee Chairman Pete Sessions (R-Texas) requested a staff-level briefing to acquire additional information on the Defense Dept.’s (DOD) failed audit, financial management practices generally, and what it is doing to implement outstanding recommendations for improvement.

In November 2022, DOD failed its fifth consecutive audit, unable to account for sixty-one percent of its $3.5 trillion in assets. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) also recently reported that DOD continues to fail to accurately account for hundreds of billions of dollars of government furnished property in the hands of contractors. DOD’s inability to adequately track assets risks our military readiness and represents a flagrant disregard for taxpayer funds, even as it receives nearly a trillion dollars annually.Reps. James Comer (R-Kentucky) and Pete Sessions (R-Texas) 

The Pentagon’s financial management and contractor management have consistently been included on the GAO’s list of areas at “High-Risk.”

In January 2023, GAO reported that DOD failed to accurately account for much government furnished property provided to contractors including weapons, equipment, technology, and other defense articles.

DOD last estimated in 2014 that contractors were in possession of $220 billion in government furnished property but GAO says that estimate is “significantly understated.”

GAO has also recommended several changes to DOD weapons systems acquisition, business systems modernization, and overall financial tracking.

DOD’s lax financial management and inability to adequately track weapons, equipment and other defense articles have raised serious concerns about DOD’s stewardship of taxpayer dollars, especially as DOD’s budget approaches thirteen figures. Failure to address these issues has limited DOD’s ability to produce auditable financial statements which would enable adequate oversight of DOD’s financial management practices. Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas)