Department of Defense

Erasing Secrets

UPDATED 7:20 AM EDT, June 18, 2013 | BY John Solomon AND Phillip Swarts

Taking a hard line after devastating leaks, the Pentagon is ordering workers to delete from their computers any classified information they find online and warning it will punish those who confirm secrets already in the public domain, according to an internal memo obtained by the Washington Guardian.

»MORE

UPDATED 6:56 AM EDT, June 5, 2013

Redundant Government

Imagine a deeply indebted household paying two companies to cut the same lawn, a shopper going to Costco and not buying bulk or a failing company paying billions to study itself.

You don't have to imagine hard. Uncle Sam is essentially doing all of the above right now.

That's the message of a new Government Accountability Office report that has identified billions of dollars the government could save just by ending duplicate contracts and eliminating unnecessary programs.

»MORE

UPDATED 15:29 PM EDT, May 22, 2013

Five-Sided Spending Machine

The Pentagon is good at running the military but bad at running the logistics, human resources and technology inside one of the world's largest businesses, a government watchdog warns.

»MORE

UPDATED 22:56 PM EDT, April 1, 2013

A Less Competitive Pentagon?

The number of companies the Defense Department contracts with has slowly been dwindling, concerning investigators that the drop in competition might lead to higher prices.

“Competition is the cornerstone of a sound acquisition process and a critical tool for achieving the best return on investment for taxpayers,” said a report by the Government Accountability Office, Congress’ watchdog arm.

»MORE

UPDATED 14:21 PM EDT, March 20, 2013

Security Snafu

HONOLULU (AP) — A civilian defense contractor who works in intelligence at the U.S. Pacific Command has been charged with giving national security secrets to a 27-year-old Chinese woman he was dating, according to a criminal complaint unsealed Monday.

Benjamin Pierce Bishop, 59, is accused of sending the woman an email last May with information on existing war plans, nuclear weapons and U.S. relations with international partners, according to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Honolulu.

»MORE

UPDATED 22:29 PM EDT, March 10, 2013

Burning Past Safety

Some troops serving in Afghanistan faced unnecessary increased risks to their safety because the Air Force poorly managed construction projects, an internal Defense Department investigation has found.

The Air Force Center for Engineering and Environment (AFCEE) wasted $36.9 million and put military personnel at Camps Bastion and Leatherneck at risk because they didn’t keep a close enough eye on the contractors hired to complete the tasks, the Pentagon inspector general reported.

»MORE

UPDATED 7:43 AM EST, January 16, 2013

Rose-y Spending

As the nation hung perilously close to the fiscal cliff and the Pentagon faced its steepest budget cuts in history, the military was spreading around New Year's cheer at taxpayer expense.

The Pentagon spent $247,000 to sponsor its first-ever float in California's Rose Bowl parade on Jan. 1, the Air Force scrambled a B2 bomber to roar over the stadium and wow fans at the ensuing college football game. Just days earlier, the Marines had bought stadium ads at the Military Bowl football game across the country in Washington D.C.

»MORE

UPDATED 7:53 AM EST, November 20, 2012

Department of Everything?

Beer. Dinosaurs. Space travel.

Usually not words associated with the Pentagon.

But that's what Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., found when he took a look at some of the spending by the nation's military.

»MORE

Department of Defense

Guardian Exclusives