Data Nightmare at Pentagon

[PfcHammer]

Data Nightmare at Pentagon 
By Noah Shachtman
Story location: http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,64134,00.html
02:00 AM Jul. 08, 2004 PT

They've been trying for more than a decade. They've built more than 2,000 databases to do the job. They're spending nearly $19 billion a year. But, despite all that effort, Defense Department officials still haven't come up with a way to track the Pentagon's supplies, finances or people, according to a new congressional report.

Instead, America's armed forces are using a tangle of duplicative, isolated and often outdated computer systems to keep tabs on their assets. And they're not doing it particularly well. These "fundamentally flawed business systems" are leaving the Pentagon wide open to "fraud, waste and abuse," the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigatory arm, notes in its report (PDF). And they're making soldiers' lives a whole lot more difficult in the process.

Some outside analysts see the inefficiency as an unfortunate but necessary consequence of the Pentagon's enormous commitments and largely successful track record. But others think the Defense Department could handle its operations a whole lot better.

"If you ran your business this way, you'd be in jail," said Christopher Hellman, an analyst with the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation.

[Racenut20]

1. I remember in VN

Supply ordering a replacement kickstand for a lowboy trailer, and 3 months later we got the whole damned truck. Since field troops were not allowed to order captial equipment, they were going to court martial the supply clerk, before they found someone in the states had messed up a partnumber didget or two when they transcribed the order to their computer. oh well, it seemed funny at the time. After 6 months or more in the field, GI's will laugh or cry at about anything.

[Florida_Geek]

4. Well there was the three ship loads of

telephone polls that came to my depot. Thousands and thousands of creole telephone polls.

Little bug in the software. They at one time ordered telephone polls by board-feet. Then they changed the unit of issue to each. So somebody ordered a couple telephone polls in board-feet and the coversion program did not know how to convert board-feet to each so it did one for one........... Three ships of telephone polls later :evilgrin:

[UpInArms]

2. where did the money go?

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2002

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.

...more...

[demnan]

3. Good enough for government work

As long as the same contracting companies that are stealing billions are also building the accounting system, what do you expect?

[drfemoe]

5. Looks like that's the plan ..

These "fundamentally flawed business systems" are leaving the Pentagon wide open to "fraud, waste and abuse," the General Accounting Office, Congress' investigatory arm, notes in its report (PDF).

Slosh enough $Billions around, some is bound to spill over .. into the 'right' pockets.

[keithyboy]

6. It's corporate welfare at the highest and most sensitive levels, yet

the "government" will get the blame for spending the money. My answer to this is: 'government doesn't spend money, PEOPLE DO!' Primarialy its the political appointees who get to say how, where, and when the Federal funds get spent. Don't fall for the Limbaugh and Hannity lines that 'government is wasting your money.' The people you elected directly or indirectly are spending your money...and it is not the Civil Service employee who has any say about it.

[Rose Siding]

7. They just lie to your face.

If this is true:

...Under an old inventory system, it took about 12 hours to pass along an order, notes Allan Banghart, director of enterprise transformation for the Defense Logistics Agency. "Today we routinely complete this function in less than 40 minutes."

...then why did I see military officials, one after the other, weeks ago, telling a Congressional committee that the reason the troops didn't have vests or armor for Humvees is because of how long it takes to id a problem and make the orders?

And why did a Utah columnist couple write *this week* that they are using raffle proceeds to send body armor to their son in Iraq?

This is BS and the FIRST pockets I'd check are the ones who try to excuse it. These are the geniuses who thought it was a great idea to pass out govt credit cards to soldiers and were then surprised by the bar tab charges.

[cthrumatrix]

8. bingo....