TRILLIONS MISSING - And so it CONTINUES. Will things EVER change!?!?!

On Sept. 10, 2001, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld declared war. Not on foreign terrorists, "the adversary's closer to home. It's the Pentagon bureaucracy," he said.

He said money wasted by the military poses a serious threat.

"In fact, it could be said it's a matter of life and death," he said.

Rumsfeld promised change but the next day Sept. 11-- the world changed and in the rush to fund the war on terrorism, the war on waste seems to have been forgotten.

Just last week President Bush announced, "my 2003 budget calls for more than $48 billion in new defense spending."

More money for the Pentagon, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports, while its own auditors admit the military cannot account for 25 percent of what it spends.

"According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.

"We know it's gone. But we don't know what they spent it on," said Jim Minnery, Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

Minnery, a former Marine turned whistle-blower, is risking his job by speaking out for the first time about the millions he noticed were missing from one defense agency's balance sheets. Minnery tried to follow the money trail, even crisscrossing the country looking for records.

"The director looked at me and said 'Why do you care about this stuff?' It took me aback, you know? My supervisor asking me why I care about doing a good job," said Minnery.

He was reassigned and says officials then covered up the problem by just writing it off.

"They have to cover it up," he said. "That's where the corruption comes in. They have to cover up the fact that they can't do the job."

The Pentagon's Inspector General "partially substantiated" several of Minnery's allegations but could not prove officials tried "to manipulate the financial statements."

Twenty years ago, Department of Defense Analyst Franklin C. Spinney made headlines exposing what he calls the "accounting games." He's still there, and although he does not speak for the Pentagon, he believes the problem has gotten worse.

"Those numbers are pie in the sky. The books are cooked routinely year after year," he said.

Another critic of Pentagon waste, Retired Vice Admiral Jack Shanahan, commanded the Navy's 2nd Fleet the first time Donald Rumsfeld served as Defense Secretary, in 1976.

In his opinion, "With good financial oversight we could find $48 billion in loose change in that building, without having to hit the taxpayers."

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[Relugus]

In even the most bureaucratic Communist governments in the world, you would not find anything as wasteful as the Pentagon.

The Pentagon is the ultimate bloated state body, and, hilariously, the so-called conservatives of the Republican party want to give it even more money to flush down the toilet.

Were Eisenhower alive today he would cut its budget by 50% at least.

[Growby10]

@Relugus - i think your right..sad but right. BUT what can we do? what have you done?

is there anything we can do?

[tonymuga]

Can you believe that some people still trust the government??

[ReggieRoning]

How come the Americans today still are voting for status quo?

[urcorrect]

What they mean to say is, "We'll get back to you with information 'for the record' when the cameras are off so we can decrease exposure of whatever shit we try to pass for an excuse."

[TLT1020]

@RejjSmooth correction smooth he said general lady.

[musicalidea]

@Growby10 We must wait until they run out of our money and their debt machine unravels in the face of rival speculators in Asia. The sweatshops will return from our loaning of them to India, China & the rest. But it may very well be that the synarchy has plans to convert the US into a kind of Latin American Banana Republic/Client State, ruled by a supremely corrupt financial oligarchy that enforces its power w/ corrupt judges, a police state & a bought Congress: oh wait, that's already here!

[chris03653837]

FUCK BUSH >> FUCK RUMSFELD >> BIGGEST THIEFS IN HISTORY. 

[jlwarner7]

The guy on the left of comtroler looks a little nervous. The comtroler can't give any names, the chairman of the procedure acts like he wants to hide information from the public. I've noticed this more than once, that they don't want give names. What good are these C-span committee tele-cast if we don't get any real answers to the questions, but rather just a run-a-round. It's a joke on the American people, and alway's has been. Nothing will ever change until we demand more from our officials.

[RejjSmooth]

I can only image what she must go through on Capital Hill . Do you realize that the Chairman continues to refer to a US congresswoman as "the young lady?" Then refers to "The Gentleman" from Georgia. A Trillion dollars would cover a football field in pallets of 100 bills packed as high as a man. How does all that money go "missing" and what evil technology did it buy?

[smokeyvelvet42]

Thank you so very much Rep. Cynthia Mc Kinney you have opened up Pandora Box !We can see how lies are fabricated they all sit there trying to cover up misapropriation of money by pretending they can't remember the whole administration are suffering from collective amnesia !!!!!!!! They are suppose to be running our government. I wouldn't trust these idiots with a shopping cart at the local supermarket.I rest my case !!!!!!! It stinks ,I can smell a rat a mile away!

[smokeyvelvet42]

54% of taxes are spent on defense !!!!!!! Mr. Rumsfeld seems to be suffering from self induced amnesia. He sits there and blantantly lies without batting an eye!! Chaney became richer and richer through Haliburton who were responsible for contracts for the rebuilding of Iraq and allocating conracts for the oil fields in the country. George Bush couldn't remember flying Osama bin Laden out of the country after the twins towers incident and the BS goes on and on we implement the patriot act!! WTF!