Breaking stovepipes, not checking boxes: DoD’s audit challenge
Russell Rumbaugh in this op-ed lays out some of the challenges Navy Secretary John Phelan is up against in his quest for the Navy to have a clean audit.
Russell Rumbaugh in this op-ed lays out some of the challenges Navy Secretary John Phelan is up against in his quest for the Navy to have a clean audit.
"We intend to get this money out the door very quickly, working with the administration," said one senior congressional official.
Breaking Defense obtained a list of the 17 priority categories that are to be financially protected in FY26.
“This result was not a surprise, and I know that on the surface it doesn't sound like we're making progress. However, that is not the case,” said DoD comptroller Michael McCord.
By 2026, the entire Navy will have an Enterprise Resource Planning system that can track “every single transaction,” comptroller Russ Rumbaugh told Breaking Defense.
Like last year, 18 standalone audits received a failing grade.
The situation in Ukraine is providing a “teachable moment” for why it matters that the Defense Department accomplish a clean audit that establishes it has an accurate count of everything its purchased.
A goal of a 2027 clean audit across the military seems far off, as most departments, including major branches, still have work to do.
An interconnected ecosystem of primes, subs, suppliers, and partners mean one weak link can bring down the entire chain.
As the DoD prepares to make cyber security a key pillar for what it buys -- and from whom -- a defense and aerospace trade group unveils a new standard that will allow companies, and the government, to see how secure contractors really are.
Explore how networked warfare, AI, and 3D-printed drones are reshaping US Indo-Pacific strategy.
After waiting almost three decades to audit itself, the Pentagon still failed miserably in its first attempt. Despite top officials brushing the failure off an an expected learning experience, real questions remain over whether it can fix itself.
"We failed the audit. We never expected to pass it," Pat Shanahan said. But at least the Space Force will cost less than half of the Air Force's estimate.
WASHINGTON: The Pentagon is preparing to release its first-ever audit as soon as this week, making it the last federal agency to complete a top-to-bottom scrubbing of its processes, business practices and finances. The fallout is likely to be messy. While expectations have built over the years that the audit will uncover large savings and […]
"I just had a general who came to my office," said Chris Lynch, head of DoD's internal hoodie-wearing geek squad, the Defense Digital Service. "The problem was the entire mission was being run out of Excel."