The Pentagon Can Count Ships (But Not Much Else)

In addition to “being the taxpayers’ greatest investment,” Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi writes that the Pentagon is also “the world’s largest producer of wrong numbers, an ingenious bureaucratic defense system that hides all the other rats’ nests underneath.” Last year, the Department of Defense became the last Cabinet-level department to submit to a comprehensive review of its books — and it flunked the audit. But Defense Department “never expected to pass it,” explained then-Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan. Whether it ever will — or is even committed to doing so — is an open question. In this week's episode of Net Assessment, Bryan, Melanie, and Chris discuss Taibbi’s scathing feature, aptly titled “The Pentagon’s Bottomless Money Pit,” and unpack his suggestions for how to fix the problem. Bryan has no grievances — life is coming up roses now that his beloved Virginia Cavaliers have made it to men’s college basketball’s Final Four (Cavaliers’ head coach Tony Bennett, naturally, earns his attaboy). Chris faults those who want to keep expanding NATO, and Melanie credits the Southern Poverty Law Center for (belatedly) doing the right thing.   Links Matt Taibbi, “The Pentagon’s Bottomless Money Pit” Rolling Stone, March 17, 2019 Frank Newport, “The Military's Positive Image and the Defense Budget,” Gallup, April 1, 2019 Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan R. Jessup in the film A Few Good Men John Samples, The Fallacy of Campaign Finance Reform(University of Chicago, 2006) The Atlantic Council’s Damon MacWilson, Tweets, April 01, 2019 Tony Bennett, Men's Basketball Coach at the University of Virginia “Deciphering the Navy’s 2020 Budget Request and Shipbuilding Plan,” Heritage Foundation, April 15, 2019 “Two Roads to War: How (and Why) America and Britain Decided to Invade Iraq,” Book Forum, Cato Institute, April 24, 2019 Pride Productions Presents “Mamma Mia” April 25-28, May 2-4 David French, "The SPLC Fires Its Co-Founder, and Its Own Intolerance Is Exposed Again," National Review, March 15, 2019 Lolita Baldor and Matthew Lee, "US Stop F-35 Fighter Jet Parts Delivery to Turkey," Defense News, April 02, 2019 Jill Aitoro, "So We're Celebrating the Pentagon's Failed Audit?" Defense News, November 20, 2018 "The Pentagon Doesn't Know Where Its Money Goes," New York Times, December 01, 2018