bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

slaynews.com/news/biden-dod-lost-track-of-220-billion-equipment/

(SNews) – Democrat President Joe Biden’s Department of Defense (DOD) has “lost track” of a staggering $220 billion’s worth of military equipment.

According to a Government Accountability Office report, the DOD, one of the largest federal agencies, has admitted to losing the taxpayer-funded equipment after giving it out to military contractors.

The Pentagon often contracts with third parties for a range of services such as intelligence gathering, weapons development, and t***sportation.

The DOD will sometimes loan out government property to these contractors.

Such equipment includes ammunition, missiles, and torpedoes.

The purpose of the loaned equipment is to help the contractors accomplish their mission goals.

Unfortunately, the DOD has done a poor job of keeping track of these assets.

The report found that the $220 billion in equipment the agency has lost track of is likely “significantly understated.”

The report also cites lost equipment as one of the reasons the DoD can’t balance its books.

The agency has never passed an audit, and the agency could only account for 39% of its $3.5 trillion in assets during its last audit in November 2022.

This is not a new problem, with auditors first noting the agency had a material weakness in tracking assets in 2001.

Since then, leadership has tried multiple times to create a database to document its assets but has failed every single time.

It has begun the process of starting a database of assets for the eighth time, this time pledging to have a system in place by 2026.

It’s not only fiscally irresponsible for the Pentagon to lose track of $220 billion in assets, but it’s also a risk to national security when the Pentagon loans out weapons without ever following up on what happened to them.

captivecookie Loc: Washington state

Wow. What was that line from The Hunt For Red October? "Oh, Yuri, have you lost another submarine?" Something like that.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

rwoodvira

You might want to read this:
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/3740921-defense-department-fails-another-audit-but-makes-progress/

From the article:
"In December 2017, defense officials set out to scrutinize DOD’s books, the first comprehensive audit of the agency in its history. That effort failed the next year, and the four that followed."

Here's an article from 2021:
https://www.npr.org/2021/05/19/997961646/the-pentagon-has-never-passed-an-audit-some-senators-want-to-change-tha

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

Our tax dollars at work, NOT!

flip1948 Loc: Hamden, CT

Yet you claim that Biden lost all of it?

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

Start with Afghanistan and work your way forward.

rwoodvira

We lost a lot in Afghanistan, and quite a lot in the evacuation of Vietnam. I had a buddy, now gone, who was directing the helicopters and planes out of Saigon. Over lunch he figured he single-handed dumped about a half billion dollars of equipment in the China Sea. The parties change, the waste does not.

anotherview Loc: California

Disturbing if factual account.

FrumCA

Loss of assets may not be a great as the DOD for obvious reasons but if the other federal agencies ever did an audit of their assets, a similar conclusion would likely be reached.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

That would not surprise me.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

So true.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

Yup!

JohnFrim Loc: Somewhere in the Great White North.

Some 30 years ago I "borrowed" an $80K aircraft power supply from the USAF under an International cooperation agreement so that I could test an item destined for use in fighter jets. The power supply was never returned because it was "tested to destruction" (certificate issued)... we had cut off the power connector and replaced it with our own. Hardly "destroyed," but officially off the USAF books! BTW, this item loan WAS tracked and traceable.

bcheary Loc: Jacksonville, FL

Interesting.