Here We Go Again: The Pentagons Full-Time Job 's EIGHTH Failed Audit
Two days after the US Senate voted on a bipartisan basis to authorize just over $900 billion in military spending for the coming fiscal year, the chief recipient of that taxpayer money—the Department of Defense—announced it failed an audit of its books for the eighth consecutive year.
The now-predictable audit result was announced Friday by the Pentagon’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) after an examination of the agency’s roughly $4.6 trillion in assets. The OIG said it identified 26 “material weaknesses”—major flaws in internal controls over financial reports—in the Pentagon’s accounting.
Auditors also uncovered “five instances of noncompliance with laws, regulations, contracts, and grant agreements,” OIG said.
The Military Times reported that “among the shortcomings were omissions in the Joint Strike Fighter Program, the Pentagon’s multifaceted effort to develop an affordable strike aircraft for the Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy, and allied nations.”
“Auditors determined the Pentagon failed to report assets in the program’s Global Spares Pool, and did not accurately record the property,” the outlet noted.