The government is quick to hold you accountable when you don't pay your taxes, but what happens to all that tax revenue the government collects? That is what the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is for, they are responsible for auditing government agencies.
When an audit of the US Defense Department was conducted, it was discovered they could not account for more than $800 million in spending. The auditors reviewed the Defense Logistics Agency, a subsection of the Defense Department, and found the agency misstated at least $465 million worth of construction projects.
The audit also found the Defense Department has not maintained sufficient documentation, or no documentation at all, for another $384 million. This is not a good start for the yearly audits the Pentagon promised under President Donald Trump.
Besides mishandling hundreds of millions of tax-payer dollars, the agency could not produce secondary evidence for several purchases, including $100 million in computer systems. The audit claimed the computer assets were "inappropriately recorded" as belonging to the Defense Logistics Agency.
In an interview with Politico, Army Lieutenant General Darrell Williams said the audit provided a "valuable" look at the agency's financial operations. Williams went on to say the Defense Department is "committed to resolving the material weaknesses and strengthening internal controls around DLA's operations."
The DLA represents the military's primary body responsible for procuring supplies ranging from uniforms to vegetables. The operation costs American tax-payers around $44 billion and processes around 100,000 orders every day. The DLA also employs approximately 25,000 people, but even an exact number of employees is impossible to find.
The discrepancies in spending revealed by the audit highlight the uncontrolled spending of the government without proper oversight and accountability. The American people need to know what their money is being used for and we demand accountability when money goes missing.
An investigation needs to be ordered into the mishandling of Defense Department funds and if they spent half as much money investigating fraud in government spending than they do on a stupid dossier saying Trump likes hookers to pee on him than maybe this spending would not be out of control.
When confronted by Politico about the mishandling of funds, the DLA responded by blaming the discrepancies on its size. "DLA is the first of its size and complexity in the Department of Defense to undergo an audit so we did not anticipate achieving a 'clean' audit opinion in the initial cycles," a representative of the agency said.
"The key is to use auditor feedback to focus our remediation efforts and corrective action plans and maximize the value from the audits. That’s what we’re doing now."
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