Pentagon has no clue about its finances

[NNadir]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department's finances may not be able to meet normal accounting standards for several more years, possibly not until after President George W. Bush leaves office, a Pentagon official said on Friday.

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Richard Sylvester, Defense Department deputy director of property and equipment policy, said in a step toward reaching that goal the Pentagon had for the first time established the cost of each piece of military equipment in its massive arsenal.

The change is part of an administration drive to instill accepted financial standards at a Defense Department long criticized for questionable accounting practices.

But the Pentagon, for which Bush has proposed a $440 billion budget in fiscal 2007, will have to overcome several more hurdles before it can produce financial statements that meet accepted accounting standards.

"I would say we're several years away from having a certifiable audit," Sylvester told reporters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060407/pl_nm/security_defense_dc_1

Thank goodness we have a CEO "President"

These people are all Mobutus

[liberal N proud]

1. They just gave all the money to Halliburton

[C_U_L8R]

2. There's one thing Republicans do VERY well

embezzle

[boobooday]

3. Tax Dollar Redistribution Center

Home of the 'trickle up.'

[Marie26]

4. Pentagon has lost $1 TRILLION dollars.

This article is from back in 2003; when Bush proposed a plan to "streamline" defense contracts by removing almost any accountability.

Military waste under fire $1 trillion missing -- Bush plan targets Pentagon accounting

The Department of Defense, already infamous for spending $640 for a toilet seat, once again finds itself under intense scrutiny, only this time because it couldn't account for more than a trillion dollars in financial transactions, not to mention dozens of tanks, missiles and planes.

The Pentagon's unenviable reputation for waste will top the congressional agenda this week, when the House and Senate are expected to begin floor debate on a Bush administration proposal to make sweeping changes in how the Pentagon spends money, manages contracts and treats civilian employees.

The Bush proposal, called the Defense Transformation for the 21st Century Act, arrives at a time when the nonpartisan General Accounting Office has raised the volume of its perennial complaints about the financial woes at Defense, which recently failed its seventh audit in as many years.

WHAT HAPPENED TO $1 TRILLION?

Though Defense has long been notorious for waste, recent government reports suggest the Pentagon's money management woes have reached astronomical proportions. A study by the Defense Department's inspector general found that the Pentagon couldn't properly account for more than a trillion dollars in monies spent.

Continued at link:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2003/05/18/MN251738.DTL

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