Pentagon waste

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Watchdog: No One Held Accountable for $550M Pentagon Mess

New SIGAR report focuses on 20 G222 cargo planes that ended up as scrap metal

(Newser) - Back in 2014, a "lessons learned" memo from a government watchdog emerged over hundreds of millions of dollars wasted by the US Air Force on a fleet of faulty Italian-made military planes that ended up getting scrapped . Now, more than six years later, that same watchdog says no one...

Pentagon Finds $125B in Internal Waste, Kills Report

DOD official was warned when requesting study: 'You are about to turn on the light in a very dark room'

(Newser) - The good news: A Pentagon-requested study on administrative waste turned up plenty of fodder for officials to work with in streamlining operations. The bad news: The study found so much internal waste—$125 billion worth—that Pentagon officials seemingly tried to squash it, based on interviews and secret memos seen...

Pentagon Blew $150M on Afghan Villas, Fine Dining

Cost would have been closer to ... nothing, had staff stayed at military base

(Newser) - First the Pentagon poured $43 million into an Afghan gas station that should've cost $500,000. Now it's under fire for putting up a "handful" of staff and visitors in private Afghan villas, as well as shelling out for private bodyguards and fine dining—running up a...

Pentagon to Destroy $1.2B in Ammunition

Outdated systems causing huge amounts of waste

(Newser) - Ammunition worth $1.2 billion, much of it still usable, is going to go up in smoke because the Pentagon is using antiquated inventory systems and different service branches can't share data effectively, a Government Accountability Office report says. Despite decades of trying to develop a single database, only...

Pentagon Late Fees for Storage Boxes: $720M

Overdue containers can cost $2,200 each

(Newser) - The Pentagon has racked up a few late fees for metal containers it has rented and failed to return on time. Nothing serious—just a little more than $720 million during the past 10 years. Used for storage, building material, and shelter in Iraq and Afghanistan, the 20-foot containers can...

Contractors Targeted in Pentagon Cuts

Gates aims to have procurement staff employed directly by Pentagon

(Newser) - The Pentagon's new budget proposal cuts the role of private contractors by a third—back to pre-9/11 levels—the Washington Post reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to replace tens of thousands of contracted workers with people employed directly by the Pentagon, especially among the vast workforce tasked with buying...

Gates Axes F-22 in Pentagon Budget Overhaul

Defense sec cuts deep, readies dep't for this century's wars

(Newser) - Defense Secretary Robert Gates today recommended halting production of the F-22 fighter jet and scrapping a new helicopter for the president as he outlined deep cuts to many of the military's biggest weapons programs. Gates said his $534 billion budget proposal represents a "fundamental overhaul" in defense acquisition...

Analysts: Mac Win Likely to Hit Defense Firms Harder

He's got the clout and the will to slash budgets

(Newser) - The defense industry is generally wary of Democratic wins, but this time around it's a Republican victory that may give military industries—and their investors—a complex, MarketWatch reports. A President Obama would be unlikely to give critics of his foreign policy cred ammunition by slashing defense spending, analysts say,...

Polluting Pentagon Rebuffs EPA Orders

Pentagon challenges agency's right to order toxic chemical clean up

(Newser) - The Pentagon is holding out on an Environmental Protection Agency order to clean up pollutants from three military bases where chemicals have become an "imminent and substantial" threat to the public health and environment, the Washington Post reports. The Defense Department also won’t sign contracts to clean up...

Top Engineers Shun Military
Top Engineers Shun Military
Jun 25, 2008 2:15 AM CDT

Top Engineers Shun Military

Costs soar as sought-after project managers head for private sector

(Newser) - Greater "geek cachet" and higher pay is diverting engineering managers from the military into places like Microsoft and Google, the New York Times reports. The result is a dearth of  managers overseeing military projects, which government investigators largely blame for long delays and $295 billion in cost overruns. The...

Pentagon Big Guns Late, Way Over Budget

Overruns hit $295B, says GAO report

(Newser) - Some 95 of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems are a total of $295 billion over budget and arrive an average of 2 years late, according to the Government Accountability Office. But GAO auditors say the Pentagon is getting sloppier, not better, reports the Washington Post. "It's taking longer and...

Nader Begins White House Bid
Nader Begins White House Bid
Feb 24, 2008 8:19 AM CST

Nader Begins White House Bid

Dems intend full-court press to keep potential spoiler off the ballot

(Newser) - Consumer advocate Ralph Nader, whose third-party candidacy many thought handed George W. Bush the presidency in 2000, announced this morning that he will again make a bid for the White House, reports MSNBC. In a Meet the Press interview, he cited America's fatigue with mainstream parties and his belief that...

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