Pentagon buries evidence of $125 billion in bureaucratic waste - Polidicks

[URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?postshare=2581480983716148&tid=ss_fb-bottom"]Washington Post[/URL] [QUOTE]The Pentagon has buried an internal study that exposed $125 billion in administrative waste in its business operations amid fears Congress would use the findings as an excuse to slash the defense budget, according to interviews and confidential memos obtained by The Washington Post. Pentagon leaders had requested the study to help make their enormous back-office bureaucracy more efficient and reinvest any savings in combat power. But after the project documented far more wasteful spending than expected, senior defense officials moved swiftly to kill it by discrediting and suppressing the results. The report, issued in January 2015, identified “a clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. The plan would not have required layoffs of civil servants or reductions in military personnel. Instead, it would have streamlined the bureaucracy through attrition and early retirements, curtailed high-priced contractors and made better use of information technology. [/QUOTE] [img_thumb]https://s18.postimg.org/907j8ux09/2300_1_PENTAGON1113.jpg[/img_thumb]

Now the real question is how many of this is regarding black projects. Our government has a very lovely history of siphoning money from random areas of the military for undercover projects.

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;51484018]Now the real question is how many of this is regarding black projects. Our government has a very lovely history of siphoning money from random areas of the military for undercover projects.[/QUOTE] When you suggest diverting funds for black ops and prgrams then that huge money hole likely gets a lot smaller. Of course, we'll never know.

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;51484018]Now the real question is how many of this is regarding black projects. Our government has a very lovely history of siphoning money from random areas of the military for undercover projects.[/QUOTE] this isn't about that at all. it's about how horrible inefficient our system is. Pentagon has a $580 billion dollar budget for desk jobs and air conditioning.

How do they know it's "bureaucratic waste" and not just corruption / officials pocketing the money?

Kind of shit when there are millions under the poverty line and families that end up bankrupted over something as simple as healthcare.

[QUOTE=Lambeth;51483884][URL="https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/pentagon-buries-evidence-of-125-billion-in-bureaucratic-waste/2016/12/05/e0668c76-9af6-11e6-a0ed-ab0774c1eaa5_story.html?postshare=2581480983716148&tid=ss_fb-bottom"]Washington Post[/URL] [img_thumb]https://s18.postimg.org/907j8ux09/2300_1_PENTAGON1113.jpg[/img_thumb][/QUOTE] Why is this not treason? [editline]6th December 2016[/editline] [QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;51484018]Now the real question is how many of this is regarding black projects. Our government has a very lovely history of siphoning money from random areas of the military for undercover projects.[/QUOTE] Like literally not even a dent of this is black projects, they are mainly funded entirely differently. this is just Joe and Jane Officerat not having anything to do every morning but 1 or 2 calls and filling in a 5 minute form, and being stuck checking facebook until the afternoon starts bringing in actual work.

[QUOTE=Trebgarta;51485143]You have to prove malicious intent, which is extreme stretch in this case[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]The Pentagon has buried an internal study[/QUOTE] Did they accidentally bury it? OOPSIE guys... we accidentally shredded this highly incriminating/embarrassing information that we totally would not want others to hear about. Almost like they are taking some pointers from a former presidential candidate.

[QUOTE=JoeSkylynx;51484018]Now the real question is how many of this is regarding black projects. Our government has a very lovely history of siphoning money from random areas of the military for undercover projects.[/QUOTE] Probably none, actually. If you want to cover up funding, rolling it into management expenses that get frequently audited is the opposite of hiding it. If a single office of three people is consuming ten million dollars per year, you might as well rename the office to Secret Stuff Here. [QUOTE=Zang-Pog;51485083]Oh the good folk at pentagon would never do anything like that, didn't you know the US is completely free of corruption specially at higher up places?[/QUOTE] What a zing, I'm sure you know that because funding disbursement is handled by the Department of the Treasury and audited by representatives from a half-dozen alphabet agencies, straight pocketing money like Nikita said is extremely rare. What we actually have is enormous bloat, especially when it comes to contractors. An office will have a $100k/yr GS-13 retire or transfer, and now they have a gap that needs to be filled, but qualified people with security clearance can take months or even years to process and they need someone now. So they bring in two contractors (because no single person can replace the officer who left), costing $200k/yr each, and those contractors do their best to ensure they keep their jobs in the future. So the total expenditure for the position has quadrupled, the contractors get buddy-buddy with management, and now they're there forever. Throw in that those contractors now have a foot in the door to sell other products offered by their company (like the latest and greatest in supply chain management or IT software or whatever), and it's no surprise to me that the military wastes such an enormous amount of money. But it's not some general disappearing with a briefcase full of cash, it's bureaucratic mismanagement caused by decision-makers having conflicts of interest, little oversight or accountability for their performance, and access to other peoples' money. [QUOTE=Blizzerd;51485003]Why is this not treason?[/QUOTE] For the, like, tenth time, treason is not 'anything bad for the US'. They have to prove (not assume, PROVE) that an act was done with malicious intent, and specifically to aid the enemies of the United States. The article explains exactly what justification was used to bury the report, and even if it's a lie, corruption is not treason. Find an email showing that Russia paid these generals to hide the report and you can book them on treason. If the best you can do is essentially shout 'read between the lines!!!', you have nothing actionable.

Back-office isn't by definition bureaucratic waste. You'll always need people working desk-jobs.

[QUOTE=Blizzerd;51485003]Why is this not treason? [/QUOTE] [quote]the crime of betraying one's country, especially by attempting to kill the sovereign or overthrow the government.[/quote]

[QUOTE=V12US;51485370]Back-office isn't by definition bureaucratic waste. You'll always need people working desk-jobs. [/QUOTE] You need people working desk jobs, but you don't need multiple contractors performing the work of a single staffer. With the pyramidal structure of bureaucracy, inefficiencies at the bottom of the chain propagate up and exponentially increase the complexity and expense of management. Read the article. It never says 'we can save a bunch of money by not having desk jobs'.

[QUOTE=Blizzerd;51485003] this is just Joe and Jane Officerat not having anything to do every morning but 1 or 2 calls and filling in a 5 minute form, and being stuck checking facebook until the afternoon starts bringing in actual work.[/QUOTE] sign me up tbh :dogwow:

How is it that it takes the media getting confidential access to this information for the waste to be exposed, yet multiple committees in Congress - with the purpose of keeping institutions like the Pentagon transparent and accountable - failed to pick up on this shocking waste? Surely someone in one of those committees would have picked up on this?

[QUOTE=BF;51485655]How is it that it takes the media getting confidential access to this information for the waste to be exposed, yet multiple committees in Congress - with the purpose of keeping institutions like the Pentagon transparent and accountable - failed to pick up on this shocking waste? Surely someone in one of those committees would have picked up on this?[/QUOTE] It's like dodgy donors or expenses crises in the UK. You don't point out your neighbour's shit-pile because he'll bring up all the hookers he saw you bury under your patio. Congress itself is culpable in a shitload of money burning too, so they don't want to have their muck raked by pointing out the pentagon's mishandling of the budget.

[QUOTE=V12US;51485370]Back-office isn't by definition bureaucratic waste. You'll always need people working desk-jobs.[/QUOTE] Like people who gets paid for doing nothing and bring no benefits to the function of the department. But at least it creates jobs right?

Perhaps we should audit the Pentagon. [editline]6th December 2016[/editline] Again, I mean. And make it really public this time.