Pentagon auditors spent 1,139 hours altering their own files in order to pass an internal review

[dahunan]

The AP reported in 2001 that the inspector general's office itself destroyed documents and replaced them with fakes to avoid embarrassment in a review of its work.

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Report: Pentagon Auditors Altered Files

Sunday January 11, 2004 1:46 AM
more at url
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-3610740,00.html

By LARRY MARGASAK

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Pentagon auditors spent 1,139 hours altering their own files in order to pass an internal review, say investigators who found that the accounting sleuths engaged in just the kind of wasteful activity they are supposed to expose.

When the auditors in the New York City office learned well in advance which files a review team would check, they spent the equivalent of more than 47 days doctoring the papers and updating records from several audits, the Defense Department's inspector general concluded. Administrative staff, audit supervisors and other employees also participated in the scheme.

The fabrication at the Defense Contract Audit Agency ``certainly violates the spirit and intent'' of government auditing standards and rules on ethical conduct, according to the inspector general's report obtained by The Associated Press.

The fabrication was discovered in 2001, but the report on it was not disclosed until Tuesday.

The defense agency, which audits government contracts, is the same one that recently reported that Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, Halliburton, may have overcharged the Army as much as $61 million for gasoline in Iraq.

The audit agency ran up some charges of its own when its auditors worked on altering the records.

The task of rewriting the files was so daunting that auditors came in from other offices to help make the changes, costing taxpayers more than $1,600 in travel expenses.

The agency ``is supposed to be the watchdog for defense contracts,'' said Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a constant critic of government waste. ``Altering audit work papers could undermine the accuracy of the Pentagons cost reports. Falsifying official reports is a crime, and those involved must be held accountable.''

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

The Pentagon is the most honorable, valuable government agency in an administration that's the most honorable . . . EVER. Accordingly, it doesn't matter how much money is wasted at DOD b/c terrorists are just waiting for America to let it's guard down.

NOTE: Per norm . . . logic isn't necessary in the Bush administration.

 

[nutxo]

So is this "gaurdian" a reputable news source?

 

[dahunan]

Originally posted by: nutxo
So is this "gaurdian" a reputable news source?

It was an AP story

Here is USA Today
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-01-11-pentagon-fraud_x.htm

Whenever I question something like this I go to www.news.google.com and search for the story
http://news.google.com/news?q=Pentagon+Auditors+Altered+Files&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&edition=us&filter=0

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: nutxo
So is this "gaurdian" a reputable news source?

They lean Left, but as far as I know they don't make stuff up.

 

[DealMonkey]

They should have just shredded the files, a la Enron, and saved taxpayers an assload of cash that way.

 

[LunarRay]

Originally posted by: DealMonkey
They should have just shredded the files, a la Enron, and saved taxpayers an assload of cash that way.

Hehehehehe ... it was a peer review and they would have been slammed by the reviewing auditors.. which means that the conclusion of the link is probably correct. The DOD internal audit staff did not create the numbers they simply were suppose to attest to the internal controls and the reasonableness of numbers presented by the chiefs.. hehehehehehe... gotta love it. everything is not as it seems..