FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 25, 2021
Contact: Press@paul.senate.gov, 202-224-4343

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), joined a group of bipartisan senators in sending a letter to Michael J. McCord, Chief Financial Officer for the Pentagon, addressing the continued failure of the Department of Defense to attain a clean financial audit as well as establish a set of internal controls intended to track assets and identify wasteful spending.

“Our men and women in uniform deserve to know how their funding is being used,” said Dr. Paul. “The DOD is charged with carrying out our greatest constitutional responsibility and yet it has little accountability. Every penny wasted is one that could have been used to support our troops. America’s military deserves a clean audit that would give them potential savings, allocate resources more efficiently, and bring accountability to the Department. I will always work for reform on wasteful spending for our troops, Kentucky, and our country.”

“As you know, the DOD has the largest budget of any Executive Branch agency, and unfortunately is the only agency that has not managed to obtain a clean audit opinion. The DOD only recently began conducting full financial audits, despite the fact that it has been required by law since 1990…” the senators wrote.

The letter highlights a number of ways the DOD failed to uphold their legal duty to consistently conduct full financial audits. Auditors found that in fiscal year 2020 alone, process improvements resulted in over $700 million in savings. But as auditors continue to dig, they continue to uncover more problems within the department.

You can read the letter in its entirety HERE.

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