Quicker action needed to fix mess Army made

Remember when we learned that the Pentagon was paying $900 for a hammer? That may seem like a bargain compared to today’s numbers. Because nobody seems to know for sure just how much money our military is spending, or what we are getting for our money. A Reuters report has uncovered that the United States Army has done such a poor job keeping its books that it has resorted to simply making up numbers. The report finds that the Army had to resort to making trillions of dollars in improper accounting adjustments, just to make their books appear balanced. In 2015, the Army made $6.5 billion in accounting adjustments even though they lacked receipts and invoices to support the numbers. An investigation by the Inspector General found the Army didn’t keep or lost required data, and much of the data it had was inaccurate. Congress is aware of the problem. In fact, Congress gave the Army until September…of next year, to prepare to undergo an audit. Shouldn’t we be moving a little more quickly? After all, the Defense budget is $573 billion, more than half of all money appropriated by Congress. If this were a private business, someone would be going to jail. The fact that it is our tax money which is being squandered should call for a speedy and thorough investigation.