Tester Slams Pentagon for Losing Hundreds of Millions of Taxpayer Dollars

Senator Calls for Wider Investigation of Defense Department

(U.S. Senate) – Following the release of an independent internal audit that is raising concerns among Republicans and Democrats, U.S. Senator Jon Tester today slammed the Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency for losing track of more than $800 million and called for a wider investigation.

“At a time when our Community Health Centers, public schools, and VA facilities are fighting for every penny they need to keep their doors open in rural America, it is unacceptable for the Pentagon to just lose nearly a billion bucks,” Tester said. “At a time when we should be rebuilding our military after over a decade of war, we can’t allow the Pentagon to waste money. Taxpayers deserve to know that their hard-earned money is not being abused or lost and that is why I am demanding an immediate, full and public investigation of the Defense Department.”

The internal audit found that the Defense Logistics Agency failed to document more than $800 million in construction equipment and projects. It also found that the agency’s “financial management is so weak that its leaders and oversight bodies have no reliable way to track the huge sums it’s responsible for.”

Tester has repeatedly pushed top Pentagon officials to complete a full agency audit, which is required by law.

Tester called for an investigation last fall into the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives after it was reported the agency ran a multi-million dollar secret slush fund in order to skirt oversight.

Tester’s letter to the Defense Department’s Principal Deputy Inspector General is available HERE.