The War On Waste

Defense Department Cannot Account For 25% of Funds - $2.3 Trillion
Los Angeles, January 29, 2002

CBS Evening News
The Pentagon (AP)

from CBSNews Website


On Sept. 10, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war. Not on foreign terrorists,

"the adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy," he said.

He said money wasted by the military poses a serious threat.

"In fact, it could be said it's a matter of life and death," he said.

Rumsfeld promised change but the next day - September 11 - the world changed and in the rush to fund the war on terrorism, the war on waste seems to have been forgotten.

Just last week President Bush announced,

"My 2003 budget calls for more than $48 billion in new defense spending."

More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion - that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America.

 

To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheets.

 

Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.

"The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery.

He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

"They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

The Pentagon's Inspector General "partially substantiated" several of Minnery's allegations but could not prove officials tried "to manipulate the financial statements."

Twenty years ago, Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney made headlines exposing what he calls the "accounting games."

 

He's still there, and although he does not speak for the Pentagon, he believes the problem has gotten worse.

"Those numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year," he said.

Another critic of Pentagon waste, Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, commanded the Navy's 2nd Fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as Defense Secretary, in 1976.

In his opinion,

"With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in that building, without having to hit the taxpayers."

 



 1 DAY BEFORE 911 WTC attack!

DO you know what happened?

WATCH!
by kisskaan
May 24, 2007

from YouTube Website

 

 

 

 

 





 "Lost" of $2.3 TRILLION DOLLARS by Militaries
September 10, 2001

from KillTown Website

 

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld announces that the Pentagon has lost track of $2.3 TRILLION DOLLARS of military spending.

 

On Sept. 10, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war. Not on foreign terrorists,

"the adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy," he said.

He said money wasted by the military poses a serious threat.

"In fact, it could be said it's a matter of life and death," he said.

Rumsfeld promised change but the next day - Sept. 11 - the world changed and in the rush to fund the war on terrorism, the war on waste seems to have been forgotten.


Just last week President Bush announced,

"my 2003 budget calls for more than $48 billion in new defense spending."

More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

 

"$2.3 trillion - that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America."

CBS (01/29/02)

Rumsfeld:

"According to some estimates, we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions."

DoD (09/10/01)



 


 What does one TRILLION dollars look like?

from PageTutor Website

All this talk about "stimulus packages" and "bailouts"...

A billion dollars...

A hundred billion dollars...

Eight hundred billion dollars...

One TRILLION dollars...

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so I thought I'd take Google Sketchup out for a test drive and try to get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We'll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slightly fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

 

 

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2" thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

 

 

 

 

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

 

 

 

 

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet...

 

 

 

 

And $1 BILLION dollars... now we're really getting somewhere...

 

 

 

 

Next we'll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we've been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it's a million million. It's a thousand billion. It's a one followed by 12 zeros....  1,000,000,000,000

You ready for this?

It's pretty surprising.

Go ahead...

Scroll down...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Ladies and gentlemen... I give you $1 trillion dollars...

 

 

 

 

(And notice those pallets are double stacked.)

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase "trillion dollars"... that's what they're talking about...