The Pentagon has been audited every year since 2018.
It failed to pass last year’s audit – again.
Seven years in a row, the Department of Defense has failed its financial audit…
Billions are unaccounted for…
Not millions… Billons!
If this happened in a private company, the CEO would be fired in the first year… if it happened again, the company would close…
But since it’s the Department of Defense, and the taxpayers are footing the bill… oh well…
This is why Elon Musk and the DOGE must get the spending under control.
Here are 4 things you should know about the Pentagon’s audit failures:
- An $824 Billion Budget with Billions Unaccounted For
Despite commanding an $824 billion budget for FY 2024, the Pentagon has consistently struggled to track how taxpayer money is being spent. Out of 28 entities audited this year:
- Only 9 received clean audit opinions.
- 15 received “disclaimers,” meaning their financial records were too disorganized to assess.
- 1 entity received a qualified opinion, indicating issues falling short of proper financial standards.
The persistent lack of transparency raises red flags about waste, inefficiency, and potential misuse of funds – exactly what the DOGE team is looking for.
- Audit Failures Are Nothing New for the DoD
The Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990 requires federal agencies to conduct yearly financial statement audits.
The DoD’s audits are comprehensive, covering its vast assets and liabilities, and are conducted by independent public accounting firms in collaboration with the DoD Office of the Inspector General.
The Pentagon began its first-ever comprehensive audit in 2017 after years of promises and delays.
Since then, it has failed every annual audit, starting with 2018.
- Pentagon Leaders Have Downplayed the Failures
Michael J. McCord served as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer for the U.S. Department of Defense from June 27, 2014 until January, 2025.
He always resisted the “failure” label, framing the audits as part of a “learning process.”
In bureaucrat speak, McCord claimed, “We have about half clean opinions. We have half that are not clean opinions. I don’t know that you call the student or the report card a failure.”
With billions of taxpayer dollars at stake, the Pentagon’s inability to pass a financial audit for seven consecutive years is unacceptable. Real reform and stronger oversight are needed to ensure that public funds are managed responsibly and transparently.
Perhaps McCord decided to voluntarily quit in January because he saw “the handwriting on the wall” with the arrival of Elon Musk and the DOGE team.
4) Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth is Working Closely with DOGE
Pete Hegseth is a breath of fresh air at the DoD.
He has a military background, serving in the Army and Army National Guard for over 20 years. He has battlefield leadership experience, earning two Bronze Stars for actions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He has real-world battle experience, unlike most Pentagon military leaders, who have only theoretical academic military “knowledge.”
More importantly, Hegseth has been a vocal advocate for rooting out corruption and waste in the military and ending the insane DEI policies that have destroyed recruitment and morale.
In the short time since he was confirmed by the Senate, Hegseth has already:
- Stopped DEI training in all DoD departments and in the military
- Given back pay to all soldiers who were fired for refusing to take the COVID shots when they were mandatory
- Offered a chance for those fired soldiers to get their jobs back
- Secured two agreements to increase American security and presence and influence in the Panama Canal: one with the Panama Canal Authority, and one with the Panamanian Secretary of Defense and President Mulino of Panamai
- Cut $5.1 billion in wasteful contracts identified by DOGEii
The latest cuts were announced on April 11th. “If you’re keeping score at home,” Hegseth said, “today’s cuts bring our running total to nearly $6 billion in wasteful spending over the first six weeks of the Department of Government Efficiency effort here at the Defense Department.”iii
Hegseth will restore efficiency and accountability to the Pentagon and the military.
Year after year, the Pentagon’s inability to account for billions of taxpayer dollars is an affront to every taxpayer.
This hasn’t been just a bureaucratic oversight—it’s been a monumental failure of leadership.
The time for excuses is over. Americans deserve a Pentagon that is efficient, transparent, and committed to safeguarding our national security and our hard-earned money.
And with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth at the helm, that’s what we will have.
What do you think? Email me at [email protected].