“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by an endless series of hobgoblins, most of them imaginary.”
-H.L. Mencken
That a government agency given almost a trillion dollars every year in public money could fail every audit it undergoes for nearly a decade proves the iron political law: one can get away with any amount of abuse or malfeasance if one transgresses in the name of “national security.”
Where are the conservative deficit hawks — the “how are we going to pay for that” people?
All the “defense” machine has to do, in the rare event it meets any criticism or skepticism, is splash a scary brown man with a beard and a scimitar ranting about jihad in some Pakistani cave across every corporate media outlet, and suddenly all the critics’ concerns vanish into thin air.
Related: How Long Until Retiring Gen. Mark Milley Is on the Board of Raytheon or Boeing?
Via The Hill (emphasis added):
“The Pentagon on Friday failed its seventh audit in a row, with the nation’s largest government agency still unable to fully account for its more than $824 billion budget, though officials stress they are making good progress toward a clean audit in 2028.
The Department of Defense technically earned a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it failed to provide sufficient information to auditors to form an accurate opinion.
The goal is to earn an unmodified audit opinion, or a clean audit that says the financial statements are accurate. A qualified opinion says there are omissions and concerns but the finances are generally reliable.”
Let not your heart be troubled, though; some paper-pusher called Michael McCord is really bullish on the Pentagon not failing every audit from now until eternity.
Granted, they probably won’t pass next year’s either, or the next, but someday, in theory, the Pentagon will probably get through an audit.
Because, McCord explains, “momentum.”
Continuing:
“Michael McCord, under secretary of Defense comptroller and chief financial officer, said that despite the disclaimer of opinion, which he expected, the Defense Department “has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its challenges.”
“Momentum is on our side, and throughout the Department there is strong commitment — and belief in our ability — to achieve an unmodified audit opinion,” he said in a statement.
The Defense Department’s report card as a whole is made up of 28 entities operating under the Pentagon that conducted independent audits.
Of those, nine received an unmodified audit opinion, one received a qualified opinion, 15 received disclaimers and three opinions remain pending. The Pentagon expects the final number of clean or qualified audits to be roughly around what it was last year.”
Related: Pentagon Official Confronted Over Military’s 5 Consecutive Failed Audits
Elon Musk, beneficiary of extreme government largesse, has pledged to instill efficiency and accountability in government.
Will he follow through when he’s dealing with a department in the DoD that he has active financial dealings with?
Or is this all more of an internet meme thing?
Ben Bartee is an independent Bangkok-based American journalist with opposable thumbs.
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