Pentagon Probes Alleged Budget Inflation

[Khephra]

WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon's chief investigator is looking into allegations that one of the military's major command headquarters inflated budget proposals at the Pentagon's request to hide $20 million from Congress, officials said Monday.

The Pentagon inspector general's office is conducting a preliminary inquiry into the allegations, which were reported to a Pentagon hot line for anonymous tips on fraud and abuse, the officials said. The audit will determine whether a full-scale investigation is launched.

Marine Corps Lt. Col. Rose-Ann Lynch, a Pentagon spokeswoman, said Pentagon officials are conducting an audit at U.S. Special Operations Command headquarters at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. She said she had no other details, including when the hot line complaint was made.

The St. Petersburg (Fla.) Times, which was first to report on the charges, said it obtained documents which show Special Operations Command officials divided the $20 million among six projects in their 2003 budget so the money would not attract attention from congressional overseers.

more................

http://www.newsday.com/news/politics/wire/sns-ap-pentagon-money-probe,0,7715315.story?coll=sns-ap-politics-headlines

[leetrisck]

1. I just bet they are investigating

Frantically tryng to cover everyone's tracks - geez

[wabeewoman]

2. The pentagon is investigating the pentagon....

Ummmm. Am I missing something here folks?? Why is the pentagon investigating?? Shouldn't it be someone a bit more impartial? Why not the GAO?? This is sorta like having the bush appointed justice department investigating the bush white house. Oh wait....
One more reason for an independent prosecutor to look into all of this.

[Unknown Known]

3. Rummy needs his shakedown money

What's the big deal:smoke:

[BQueen]

4. What's $20 mil....

when they can't account for $3 (or was it 4?) TRILLION in their ordinary spending anyway? And the Pentagon has evaded even the most rudimentary GAO audits (basically making sure the checkbook balances and where the money went) as opposed to the usual understanding of "audit" because their record-keeping is incomprehensible.

Gotta love the Pentagon -- evade oversight by making sure no one can decipher your books.

[dbt]

5. Any 'missing' Pentagon money is flying right over your head!

It's called chemtrails.

:freak:
dbt

[Judi Lynn]

6. Florida Democratic Senator Bill Nelson's calling for investigation

Posted on Tue, Sep. 30, 2003

Nelson wants investigation into inflated MacDill budget numbers
Associated Press

TAMPA, Fla. - U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson has asked for two investigations into how the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base inflated budget numbers at the Pentagon's request to conceal $20 million from Congress.
Nelson said he asked the Senate Armed Services Committee and the General Accounting Office, the investigative arm of Congress, to look at the way Special Operations adjusted its budget proposal last year.

The Florida senator was meeting Monday night to discuss his request with Virginia Sen. John Warner, the Republican chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and Michigan Sen. Carl Levin, the committee's ranking Democrat.

"It raises serious questions of the proper use of taxpayers' money," Nelson said in an interview with the St. Petersburg Times. "This is of considerable interest to me and to the Congress."

The newspaper reported Sunday that Special Operations officials at MacDill inflated budget proposals at the request of the Pentagon for fiscal year 2003, which ends Tuesday. Documents showed the money was divided among six projects to avoid attracting attention. (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/6895013.htm