What The Pentagon Spends

[erpowers]

I think just about everybody knows it is hard to determine how much the Pentagon spends? It seems that most of the problems is the fact that the Pentagon has poor accounting practices if any at all. My question is, is there any way to force the Pentagon to use good accounting practices? In addition, is it lobbying that keeps the Pentagon from implementing good accounting practices? So, what needs to be done in order to be able to learn how much the Pentagon spends on items and what items the Pentagon spends its money to buy?

[G_j]

1. the part of the pie they won't touch

[onager]

2. I work in the aerospace-defense industry.

For one of the biggest contractors. Since I am in the technical/engineering side and not the contracting side, I can't help you much.

I did hear an interesting quote a few months ago when I was taking some training:

"Since the fall of the Soviet Union, the biggest command economy in the world is the U.S. Department of Defense."

The problem is not just accounting. Here at DU, I often LMAO when I read people's rants about how easy it is to get Pentagon money.

Procurement is a long, hard process for the companies involved.

Pentagon aside, a company can easily run afoul of the State Dept. or Commerce Dept., and be levied huge fines by the govt.

When out and out corruption is uncovered, people go to jail. Probably not the RIGHT people, but that's true in a lot of industries.