Tag: pentagon

Pentagon Fails To Account For Over $3 Trillion For 6th Year In A Row

The Pentagon has failed its independent annual audit for the sixth year in a row, as US defense officials could not provide auditors with enough information to form a full accounting evaluation, according to the Defense Department’s yearly financial report released on Thursday.

“Auditing the department’s $3.8 trillion in assets and $4 trillion in liabilities is a massive undertaking,” Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord said.

The 2023 audit gave a “disclaimer of opinion,” which means the Pentagon could not provide auditors enough financial data to allow them to form an opinion. An unqualified, or “clean,” opinion is the highest possible rating and a qualified opinion is an acceptable rating. Both mean that auditors were given enough information to make a complete judgement.

In 2022, the Pentagon only managed to account for 39 percent of its $3.5 trillion in assets. With this failure, the Pentagon has kept its spot as the only US government agency to have never passed a comprehensive audit. It also highlights the US war department’s persistent lack of internal financial control, its poor budget estimations and rampant overspending. 

A clear example of this is the F-35 program, which has gone over its original budget by $165 billion to build a plane tasked to perform many different tasks, none of which it does well.The Pentagon is slated to buy more than 2,400 F-35s for the Air Force, Marines, and Navy. The estimated lifetime cost for procuring and operating these planes – $1.7 trillion – would make it the Pentagon’s most expensive weapons project ever.

Keep reading

The Pentagon Proclaims Failure in its War on Terror in Africa

America’s Global War on Terror has seen its share of stalemates, disasters, and outright defeats. During 20-plus years of armed interventions, the United States has watched its efforts implode in spectacular fashion, from Iraq in 2014 to Afghanistan in 2021. The greatest failure of its “Forever Wars,” however, may not be in the Middle East, but in Africa.

“Our war on terror begins with al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated,” President George W. Bush told the American people in the immediate wake of the 9/11 attacks, noting specifically that such militants had designs on “vast regions” of Africa.

To shore up that front, the U.S. began a decades-long effort to provide copious amounts of security assistance, train many thousands of African military officers, set up dozens of outposts, dispatch its own commandos on all manner of missions, create proxy forces, launch drone strikes, and even engage in direct ground combat with militants in Africa. Most Americans, including members of Congress, are unaware of the extent of these operations. As a result, few realize how dramatically America’s shadow war there has failed.

The raw numbers alone speak to the depths of the disaster. As the United States was beginning its Forever Wars in 2002 and 2003, the State Department counted a total of just nine terrorist attacks in Africa. This year, militant Islamist groups on that continent have, according to the Pentagon, already conducted 6,756 attacks. In other words, since the United States ramped up its counterterrorism operations in Africa, terrorism has spiked 75,000%.

Keep reading

The Intelligence Community’s Latest Novelty, Spy Underwear, Puts Us Closer to the Totalitarian Dystopia Described in Science Fiction Novels

In 1921, just after the Russian Revolution, Yevgeny Zamyatin published a dystopian science fiction novel, We, in which a spacecraft engineer lives in a futuristic city made of glass enabling government authorities to track everything that people do at every moment of the day.

The novel influenced George Orwell and Aldous Huxley who wrote prophetic warnings about state surveillance and totalitarianism in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949) and Brave New World (1932).

Slowly but surely the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies are helping to transform Zamyatin’s worst nightmare into reality—albeit with a twist. Rather than having to build cities full of glass, they have perfected development of sophisticated computer technologies that allow them to spy on everyone without the people knowing when they are doing it.

In late August, the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA), the research and development arm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), launched a $22 million program designed to develop computerized clothing, including spy underwear fitted with cameras, sensors and microphones capable of recording audio, video and geolocation data.

According to the Office of the DNI, the newly developed eTextile technology, ideally could assist personnel and first responders in dangerous, high-stress environments, such as crime scenes and arms control inspections without impeding their ability to swiftly and safely operate.[1]

The new technology, however, brings with it a serious dark side, giving the government the ability to insidiously spy on everyone all the time—without them ever knowing it. Journalist Annie Jacobsen told The Intercept that the intelligence agencies “want to know more about you than you.”

Keep reading

Secret Pentagon Investigation Found No One at Fault in Drone Strike That Killed Woman and 4-Year-Old

MARIAM SHILOW MUSE was born in the springtime. When relatives dropped by, the bright-eyed 4-year-old bolted through the yard and beyond the fence to greet them. When her father came home, she smothered him with hugs.

In late March 2018, Mariam’s mother, 22-year-old Luul Dahir Mohamed, planned to visit her brother to see his children for the first time, and Mariam insisted on coming along to meet her young cousins. Luul’s brother had planned to pick them up, but Luul couldn’t reach him by phone, so on the morning of April 1, she and Mariam caught a ride with some men in a maroon Toyota Hilux pickup.

That same afternoon, as Luul’s brother Qasim Dahir Mohamed was on his way to pick up his sister and niece, he passed the maroon Toyota pickup. He noticed mattresses and pillows in the bed and, at the last second, caught sight of Luul, with Mariam on her lap, in the passenger seat. He waved and honked, but the truck kept going. 

Qasim’s phone wasn’t working, so he decided to drive on to El Buur, where Luul and Mariam had just spent the night, to see other relatives before returning home to welcome his sister and niece. Seconds after he reached the house, Qasim heard the first explosion, followed by another and, after a pause, one more blast.

Keep reading

Pentagon UFO boss says strange sightings are either ‘aliens’ or a foreign power – and he hopes it’s extraterrestrials

According to the director of the Pentagon‘s UFO investigation office, ‘the best thing that could come out of this job is to prove that there are aliens.’ 

The alternative to what would be a literally Earth-changing discovery of extraterrestrial life exploring our own planet would be that a rival foreign power could be ‘doing stuff in our backyard,’ he said. 

Dr. Kirkpatrick added: ‘And that’s not good.’

The longtime laser and materials physicist and head of the Pentagon’s UFO-chasing All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) delivered this bracing assessment as news broke of his impending retirement from government service. 

Dr. Kirkpatrick’s 18-month tenure as AARO’s first ever director has been laced with controversy, as expected for a mandate once relegated to the scientific fringe. 

While some UFO whistleblowers now accuse Kirkpatrick of fostering an ‘atmosphere of disinterest,’ others have suggested his superiors are holding AARO’s efforts back even though a few have described ‘really positive’ experiences with the office.

Keep reading

The Pentagon wants a new powerful nuclear bomb. Please don’t give it to them

Just days after China announced that it would double its nuclear arsenal to more than 1,000 warheads by 2030, Pentagon officials revealed plans Tuesday for a new nuclear gravity bomb that would be 24 times as powerful as the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945. By Thursday, President Vladimir Putin had signed a bill withdrawing Russia from its inclusion in a global nuclear test ban — which was followed this week by a test launch from one of its submarines of an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads. That means, by default, the U.S. is also no longer part of the treaty, meaning we could once more begin dropping bombs in the New Mexico desert, à la “Oppenheimer,” though (thankfully) no such plans have been announced. 

What (and I say this with all due respect) in the actual f**k is going on here? Is the world teetering off the edge? The hows are easier to explain than the whys when it comes to all this madness, so let’s start there. 

The plans for a new nuke were rolled out almost exactly a year after the Pentagon’s Nuclear Posture Review was published, which advocated for a bigger US nuclear flex to compete with the stockpile they estimated China would have built by 2030. As it turns out, that Chinese stockpile is getting much bigger, much faster than we thought — with “more than 500 operational nuclear warheads” as of May.

Keep reading

Seymour Hersh Releases Leaked Pentagon/DIA Document — One More Nail In The Coffin Of Western Gov’t Official Story Of Syria Chemical Weapons Claims

With absolutely no fanfare in either the alternative or mainstream media, veteran journalist Seymour Hersh has released a leaked Pentagon/DIA assessment of the chemical warfare capability of Jobhat al-Nusra/Al-Nusra Front (also known as Al-Qaeda), a fact that Western governments and Western media simply would not admit during their “chemical weapons” propaganda volley against the Syrian government. The document is from June 20, 2013.

The documents were released in Hersh’s article entitled “When the Intelligence is Inconvenient” and can be found on his Substack page. The entire article can be read in full with a subscription.

A brief excerpt from the article reads:

On Sunday Secretary of State Antony Blinken told Jonathan Karl of ABC’s This Week that he remained “very confident in Ukraine’s ultimate success” in the ongoing war with Russia. He depicted Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky’s decision to escalate its attacks inside Russia as “their decision, not ours.”

Blinken’s wrong-headed confidence and his acceptance of a significant escalation in the Ukraine war defies belief, given the reality on the ground today in the war. But it also could be based on insanely optimistic assessments supplied by the Defense Intelligence Agency. The DIA’s assessments, as I have reported, are now the intelligence of choice inside the White House.

As a journalist who has written about national security matters for many decades, how can I explain a process that is clearly contrary to the best interests of the people of the United States and its leadership?

Keep reading

Pentagon UFO chief Dr Sean Kirkpatrick will be REPLACED by end of the year as whistleblowers accuse him of lying to the public and ignoring witnesses

The Pentagon’s UFO chief will resign by year’s end — amid a wave of complaints accusing him of making false statements about UFO whistleblowers and fostering an ‘atmosphere of disinterest,’ DailyMail.com understands.

‘Four major candidates’ have been interviewed to replace the current director of the Pentagon‘s UFO office, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, following months of heated public sparring between the former CIA physicist, UFO whistleblowers and activists.

The Pentagon appears to have already ‘made the decision’ on Kirkpatrick’s unnamed successor, according to one former Pentagon official with past involvement in related UFO investigation programs, who spoke with the DailyMail.com.

‘Given their public affairs track record,’ this ex-official said, ‘they may not put out anything to the press until well after the change, but who knows? They might surprise us.’

The personnel shift marks the culmination of months of accusations and counter-accusations traded between Kirkpatrick and former intel officer David Grusch, who has alleged widespread illegalities stemming from a long-secret UFO program. 

This week, Grusch publicly accused Kirkpatrick of lying about his office’s efforts to investigate these claims, which had been laid out by Grusch last July under oath before Congress.

Previously, Kirkpatrick had described Grusch’s same testimony, made before the House Oversight committee, as ‘insulting […] to the officers of the Department of Defense and Intelligence Community.’

But fellow UFO whistleblowers working with Grusch, some past and present DoD and Intelligence Community officers themselves, reportedly ‘don’t trust and never did trust Sean,’ according to an attorney aiding their efforts.

Keep reading

Pentagon announces new nuclear bomb 24 times more powerful than one dropped on Japan

The Department of Defense announced its pursuit of a nuclear bomb that will be 24 times more powerful than one of the bombs dropped on Japan during World War II.

The Pentagon is seeking congressional approval and funding to pursue a modern variant of the B61 nuclear gravity bomb, which will be designated the B61-13, according to a DoD press release.

“Today’s announcement is reflective of a changing security environment and growing threats from potential adversaries,” Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb said in the release. “The United States has a responsibility to continue to assess and field the capabilities we need to credibly deter and, if necessary, respond to strategic attacks, and assure our allies.” 

Keep reading

Pentagon Belatedly Reveals Two Dozen US Personnel Were Wounded In Spate Of Drone Attacks In Iraq, Syria

The Pentagon revealed in a late Tuesday statement that in just the past week, US and coalition forces have been attacked at least ten times in Iraq, as well as three times in Syria “via a mix of one way attack drones and rockets,” according to Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, speaking to NBC.

But the real bombshell development, which Biden’s defense officials have apparently sat on for several days, is that some 24 US personnel were wounded in the attacks. According to the NBC statement:

Two dozen American military personnel were wounded last week in a series of drone attacks at American bases in Iraq and Syria, U.S. Central Command told NBC News on Tuesday.

The Pentagon confirmed the attacks last week, but the number of U.S. casualties has not been previously disclosed.

“Twenty American personnel sustained minor injuries on Oct. 18 when at least two one-way attack drones targeted al-Tanf military base in southern Syria, CENTCOM said,” the report continues. 

It appears all the injuries were deemed minor, given Gen. Ryder described that all personnel returned to duty after being evaluated and threated, and there was no significant damage to base installations. However, in Iraq, “The U.S. shot down the one-way attack drones, but the debris from one destroyed a hanger that contained small aircraft, CENTCOM said.”

Keep reading