Ten years after Congress ordered federal agencies to have outside auditors review their books, neither the Defense Department nor the newer Department of Homeland Security has met even basic accounting requirements, leaving them vulnerable to waste, fraud and abuse.
An Associated Press review shows that the two departments’ financial records are so disorganized and inconsistent that they have repeatedly earned “disclaimer” opinions, meaning that they simply cannot be fully audited.
“It means we really can’t put any faith in the numbers they use,” said Ross Rubenstein, who teaches public administration at Syracuse University’s Maxwell School.
It's amazing that we have managed to discover the numerous cases of corruption and over-billing considering the chaotic state of these federal agencies though the trend during this administration is blatantly obvious. The positive angle here is that it makes it easier to understand how so much of our taxpayer money has gone missing in Iraq and why Petraeus skipped over that little issue when suggesting Iraq was good for the US arms business even though so much of those funds disappeared. Ignorance is bliss...not to mention SOP at the Defense Department.
