VA withholds bonuses because of backlog in disability claims →
WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs is withholding bonuses for senior officials who oversee disability claims, citing a failure to meet performance goals for reducing a large backlog in claims processing.
Good to see a little accountability.
“I didn’t think we knew what the hell we were doing.”
DOD Inspector General Finds $900 Million Spare Part Stockpile →
The Army bought nearly $900 million worth of spare parts for the Stryker armored fighting vehicle even as the parts became obsolete or unnecessary, according to a report by the Defense Department Office of Inspector General.
Including:
- $57 million worth of uninstalled, obsolete infrared equipment
- 9,179 small replacement gears, of which the Army only needed 15
Jon Stewart Tears Into “Criminal” VA Backlog
On Wednesday’s episode of The Daily Show, Jon Stewart decried the extremely long wait times veterans are facing for their disability claims and medical appointments despite an increase in funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
(Source: dailyshow.com)
Thankless DOD Inspector General routinely ignored →
Ignoring inspectors general, the internal watchdogs of the federal government, is a recipe for fraud and waste.
“Our position is agencies should either implement IG recommendations in a timely fashion or make very public in the record why they disagree,” said POGO’s Michael Smallberg.
The First Female Defense Chief? →
From the Los Angeles Times, “Michele Flournoy, respected by military officers and politicians from both parties, is on Obama’s shortlist for Defense secretary.”
DoD testing finds radios ineffective, unreliable. DoD decides to buy 3,000 anyway. →
And those radios are costing about a quarter billion. Read more at Bloomberg Businessweek.
(via @henrycobb)
“We should be able to agree that it’s time to reshape our forces for 21st-century priorities. In so doing, the associated savings would strengthen America’s economic competitiveness and reduce our federal deficit.
But the big Pentagon contractors have an overwhelming self-interest in keeping Pentagon spending artificially high. They’re pulling out all the stops to protect their profits — launching advertising campaigns, sending their congressional proxies on speaking tours and indulging in fear-mongering rhetoric — all designed to scare the public into thinking that any reductions in Pentagon spending whatsoever would be catastrophic.
More than anything, they manipulatively claim that any reshaping of our military would mean job losses — an argument primarily aimed at making members of Congress who are running for reelection afraid to make responsible decisions.
”
Major defense contractors have been going around saying the sequestration cuts to Pentagon spending will cause widespread job losses, but history tells a different story. Find out more, then share this around.
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