Report faults Pentagon for weapons buying problems

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Report faults Pentagon for weapons buying problems

By Jim Wolf
Reuters
Friday, March 30, 2007; 7:55 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department has doubled its planned
investment in new weapons from $750 billion in 2001 to $1.5 trillion this year,
but it is not getting enough bang for its buck, congressional investigators
said on Friday.

The Pentagon program "remains a high-risk area" dogged by cost overruns,
schedule delays and performance gaps, said the Government Accountability
Office, Congress' nonpartisan audit and investigative arm.

-snip-

Despite the doubling of planned spending in major weapons systems since
2001, "unanticipated cost growth has reduced the return on this investment,"
GAO chief David Walker, who is the U.S. comptroller general, said in a cover
letter to Congress.

"Not only is the buying power of the government reduced and opportunities
to make other investments lost, but the warfighter receives less than promised,"
the GAO said. "The size and scale of current planned investment necessitate
better results than we have seen in the past."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/30/AR2007033001882.html