Your Money At Play

Studies of the contracting 'procedures' in U.S. wars, during the previous maladministration, has shown what seemed probable from the costs as related to production; what procedures? Under a group formed to give close scrutiny to the Pentagon's supply of our troops, staggering expense tracked directly back to staggeringly blasé winging it with public funds and military needs.

The contractors that literally ran rampant through the countries we took over were just one branch that proved profligate with our money. The military showed all the concern for our national treasure usually connected with pigs at a trough.

The bipartisan CWC, commissioned by Senators Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), James Webb (D-Va.), and Susan Collins (R-Maine), took several months to study the multitude of ways in which the government has been scammed. Staffed by employees of the relevant government agencies, branches of the military and the private sector, the group analyzed hundreds of audits and reports before seeking out answers in the field.

Their studies led them to investigate relevant government and contractor organizations in Washington, interviewing various employees. Not content with second hand accounts, the CWC then flew staff to Iraq and Afghanistan, where they observed, interviewed and analyzed contractors, and the government employees supposed to be overseeing them.

What they found confirmed their worst fears. Not only is the weather in Iraq unpleasantly hot, but the contracting system is completely broken.
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...apathy from politicians towards civil service, combined with a lack of a clear legal definition, has led to staff shortages in some agencies being filled by contractors, even though it is done unlawfully.

With the amount of contractors supporting contingencies in Iraq and Afghanistan outnumbering government personnel, the commission feels that this imbalance should be redressed, in part, by clearly defining what cannot be outsourced, and hiring an appropriate amount of government officials accordingly.

A clear example of something that the commission feels should not be outsourced can be found amidst Afghanistan's system of private military contractors. The administration of a private security oversight committee, the Armed Contractor Oversight Division (ACOD) in Afghanistan, was contracted to a British firm, Aegis, upon the ACOD's establishment in Afghanistan in February of this year.

Yes, that’s right. A government oversight division has been contracted. Not only is it fundamentally wrong that private interests are managing a government watchdog, but there is also the potential for conflict of interest. Should Aegis, or an affiliate of the company, bid successfully for a private security contract, then the company would be supervising itself, while collecting two separate checks from U.S. taxpayers. (Emphasis added.)

The gross maladministration of this country extended in many directions, and reached an apogee in its wars. The former chief of the executive branch who came into office by malfeasance, whose whole career was an illustration of avoiding Hard Work, created a mess that extends to every branch of the government. Cleaning up the mess is a hard job, indeed, and will take dedicated public servants' returning to government and slowly but surely taking back this country for the people.

The billions that the previous maladministration blew in its wars would have paid several times over for the health care system that its leftovers are now fighting maniacally to resist.