All Things in Moderation

Cutting Waste at DOD – Really!

4 Responses

1. 

   Geanie, on November 20, 2012 at 9:09 am said:

   Applause Applause. While what Senator Coburn has pointed out adds up to more than just a smidgen, there are more cuts that can be made to DOD. For example: My daughter and son-in-law are both in the Oklahoma Air Force Reserves, they both have full time day jobs on the local base as well. My daughter told me just a couple weeks ago that she was amazed that in order to spend their entire budget, so it wouldn’t be dropped next budget period, they were all provided with $600 (each) office chairs throughout the base. She said they were told to spend it, somehow. Now there are a lot of persons working on our local base, I mean a lot. Wish I knew just how many. But at $600 for each chair, that’s a lot of wasted tax payer funds.
   While I understand how budgets work and yes, if you don’t spend it all, you won’t be given as much next year. The problem with that is they have now purchased these $600 chairs more than once, they also did this last year. My daughter tells me they have so much excess office equipment, just to be able to keep their budgets, they are having problems finding places to put it all.

   Yes, DOD can do without a lot of the money earmarked for them. And this is just one example of truly wasted government funds.

   Bet there are a ton of other areas in our government that can be trimmed down likewise. I know we need government, and in the 21st century it cannot be trimmed down to skeleton, but I am sure there are a lot of weeds that can be trimmed or just killed off.

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     markinaustin, on November 20, 2012 at 11:55 am said:

     Agreed. DOD is so big – so is DHLS – that it is difficult to keep track. Really. The IG has audited DOD again and again and found its record keeping wanting. This has happened every year that I can recall in my adult life, and I am 69. Thus finding the entire wasted programs is a good start.

     The Army does not use double entry bookkeeping, unless this has been recently changed. Orders for goods are sent, CIF fills them, and the paper trail disappears in 30 days. Thus, during the ‘Nam War, a Captain could order 5 typewriters, A scheming Corporal could make the written order for 6, CIF would issue 6, the Corporal would give the Captain 5, and sell one on the black market. CIF would have no record of the transaction 31 days later. Prosecutions were impossible, unless the investigators completely set up the transactions in advance.

     I was told that some sergeants actually traded half tracks to the NVA.

     Assume treason is not rampant today, still, the lack of double entry books makes finding waste incredibly difficult.

     Addendum: Panetta says that DoD will be capable of being audited, for the first time, in 2017.

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2. 

   yellojkt, on November 20, 2012 at 1:35 pm said:

   As much as I would like to believe Waste Fraud and Abuse in the military would solve the budget crisis, all we can do is nibble at the corners. Like the poor, it will always be with us. Not that better accountability shouldn’t be demanded, but it’s not a magic bullet. We really need to target programs and systems we no longer need. Even those with procurement sources in all 435 congressional districts.

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3. 

   bsimon, on November 20, 2012 at 6:50 pm said:

   ” Not that better accountability shouldn’t be demanded, but it’s not a magic bullet. We really need to target programs and systems we no longer need.”

   Its not a magic bullet, but its a bullet. To a certain extent, getting a couple wins by ‘nibbling at the corners’ would be a good start & establish credibility for the idea that stuff at DOD can be cut without lowering security.

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