SHADY

Pentagon Buries Evidence of $125 Billion in Bureaucratic Waste

After ordering report on how to save money.

The Pentagon has systematically buried a study that showed evidence of its $125 billion in bureaucratic waste, according to an article in The Washington Post. The article, which was based on confidential memos and interviews, claimed the report was issued in January 2015 and identified a “clear path” for the Defense Department to save $125 billion over five years. Pentagon officials had requested the study in hopes of improving administrative efficiency and to eventually reallocate the saved money toward combat needs. However, the Post reports that when the study showed an extraordinarily large amount of wasteful spending, senior officials worried about public perception—as well as Congress’s reaction—and suppressed the information. The department allegedly imposed secrecy restrictions on parts of the data, which meant that no one could ever replicate the report’s findings. The study’s 77-page summary was subsequently removed from a Pentagon website shortly after it had been made public.