Pentagon overspent budget by $295 billion
The Christian Science Monitor
By Tom McCawley
April 3, 2008
The Pentagon has gone hundreds of billions of dollars over
budget in recent years on key weapons systems, including
aircraft, ships, and satellite, said a government audit. The
Government Accountability Office (GAO) said for the sixth year in
a row that the Pentagon had significantly gone over budget, but
according to a report presented to Congress this week, the
problem is getting worse.
The Washington Post reports:
The Government Accountability Office found that 95 major
systems have exceeded their original budgets by a total of $295
billion, bringing their total cost to $1.6 trillion, and are
delivered almost two years late on average. In addition, none of
the systems that the GAO looked at had met all of the standards
for best management practices during their development
stages.
Auditors said the Defense Department showed few signs of
improvement since the GAO began issuing its annual assessments of
selected weapons systems six years ago. "It's not getting any
better by any means," said Michael Sullivan, director of the
GAO's acquisition and sourcing team. "It's taking longer and
costing more."
The GAO said that Pentagon spending on weapons programs has
rocketed to a 20-year high of $1.6 trillion, Agence France-Presse
reports. The GAO said a total of 72 programs, including combat
ships, fighter jets, and satellites, were over budget.
The spending on new weaponry continued to rise despite funding
competition from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and a decline
in discretionary spending in other areas of the US government
budget, the GAO said.
"Every dollar spent inefficiently in developing and procuring
weapon systems is less money available for many other internal
and external budget priorities – such as the global war on
terror and growing entitlement programs (such as social
security)," Gene Dodaro, the GAO's acting comptroller general,
said in the report delivered to Congress on Monday.
Government auditors said Wednesday that almost half of some 28
contracts to manufacture body armor for Army soldiers were
completed without proper tests, the Washington Post reported.
According to the 195-page GAO report (links to PDF file), the
Pentagon has doubled the sum pledged to new weapons systems from
$790 billion in 2000 to $1.6 trillion in 2007. The GAO also
concluded current programs are delivered 21 months late on
average.
Commentator Robert Scheer, a journalist and editor of the
website TruthDig, called the recent spending the "highest run-up
in military spending since World War II."
This is not about the waste of taxpayer dollars –
already pushing a trillion – in funding the Iraq war,
which, while reprehensible enough, pales in comparison to the
big-ticket military systems purchased in the wake of 9/11.
Another recent government audit found that the Army had gaps
in its soldiers' safety standards, USA Today reports. A Defense
Department audit found that the Army couldn't be sure some of its
body armor met safety standards.
The inspector general reviewed $5.2 billion worth of Army and
Marine Corps contracts for body armor from 2004 through 2006.
"Specific information concerning testing and approval of first
articles was not included in 13 of 28 Army contracts and orders
reviewed, and contracting files were not maintained in 11 of 28
Army contracts to show why procurement decisions were made," the
report concluded...
"This report indicates that nearly half of the Army's
contractors did not perform the most basic test on the body armor
before it was sent to our troops fighting overseas," [Rep. Louise
M. Slaughter, (D) of New York, who asked for the report] said.
"During a time of war, it's shameful that the Army would not
scrupulously ensure that every piece of equipment is properly
tested, especially a fundamentally life-and-death product such as
body armor."
Previous government audits have also found major waste in
contracts involving reconstruction efforts in Iraq, The Christian
Science Monitor reported last year. The January 2007 report by
the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction found that
about $4.2 million of $43.8 million in US State Department funds
spent on a residential camp adjacent to a new Iraq police academy
wasn't properly approved.
The Pentagon said it would respond to the most recent report
about alleged overspending on weapons systems.
The Defense Department programs suffering from cost overruns
included a new presidential helicopter, unmanned aerial drones,
and improvements to the F-22A Raptor, CNN reports.
That time lag is forcing the military to keep equipment in use
longer than planned, which is itself driving up costs, the report
said...
A Pentagon spokesman said the department needs time to study
the report before commenting.
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