The Defense Department will conduct an agencywide financial audit for the first time in history, following requirements in the 2010 National Defense Authorization Act. In a conference yesterday, the Pentagon committed to annual audits, with reports to be issued in November.
The Department’s careless approach to finances is notorious. It has gone so far as to bury a study that demonstrated how it could save $125 billion dollars of bloat, to continue a multi-trillion dollar corporate welfare program for a jet with decades-old computing and worse flying ability than planes from the 1970s, and so on, deflecting any criticism by asserting that the skeptics do not care about American lives.
Now that the audit can be delayed no longer, it will be interesting to see how it affects the bipartisan blind eye given to DoD mismanagement. Of course, considering that much of it has been known widely for years, perhaps there will be no effect.