Defense Overspending

Arms Fiascoes Lead to Alarm Inside Pentagon
By TIM WEINER
Published: June 8, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/08/business/08weapons.html?

The Pentagon has more than 80 major new weapons systems under development, which is "a lot more programs than we can afford," a senior Air Force official, Blaise J. Durante, said. Their combined cost, already $300 billion over budget, is $1.47 trillion and climbing

research and development spending on new weapons has gone up 77 percent since 2000, and now totals $69 billion a year

Oversight is dwindling, Pentagon officials acknowledge. While the dollar value of weapons contracts doubled over the last decade, the Pentagon halved the size of the work force that polices their costs. The government work of managing the design, development and production of weapons has been largely outsourced to the weapons contractors themselves.

and

May 2005
DOD EXCESS PROPERTY
Management Control Breakdowns Result in Substantial Waste and Inefficiency
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d05277.pdf


$2.2 billion{over a Period of Two years lgl} (88
percent) includes significant waste and inefficiency because new, unused,
and excellent condition items were transferred and donated outside of DOD,
sold for pennies on the dollar, or destroyed. DOD units continued to buy
many of these same items. GAO identified at least $400 million of commodity
purchases when identical new, unused, and excellent condition items were
available for reutilization. GAO also identified hundreds of millions of
dollars in reported lost, damaged, or stolen excess property, including
sensitive military technology items, which contributed to reutilization
program waste and inefficiency. Further, excess property improperly stored
outdoors for several months was damaged by wind, rain, and hurricanes.
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Both the Defense Dept. and Congress are beginning to lose it! Generals have developed George Lucas vision, and want Star Wars technology. The Future Combat System is based upon Weapons (18) never before fielded or even designed, with Vehicle armor and weight definitely Jedi in origin. They scrap everything which does not meet the Vision, even though much of the Scrap is better than that possessed by any other military force in the World (scheduled Dates for removal from Main Force of Weapon systems is unbelievable). Weapon systems which provided the United States with success in Engagement after Engagement are not fancy enough for use on the modern battlefield, as defined by the Visionaries.

Cost is going up, Weapons Production efficiency is going down, Weapons Provision finds ever-increasing delays, and Total numbers of Weapons are reducing to the point they will be unable to defend the District of Columbia. lgl