Amid concerns about the lack of oversight for US arms pouring into Ukraine, the Pentagon’s comptroller said that the department has failed its fifth consecutive audit.
The Pentagon began independent financial audits in 2017 and has failed everyone since. Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord told reporters that things didn’t look much different in the audit from the previous year and that it was “not the progress I would have hoped for.”
The audit of the Pentagon’s $3.5 trillion in assets and $3.7 trillion in liabilities concluded that the department’s internal tracking of money and arms is still not good enough for a passing grade. Pentagon officials have said they hope to pass their first audit by 2027.
When it comes to providing arms to Ukraine, McCord said arming the Ukrainians is an example of why there should be better oversight since they’re supplying a military that needs to replenish equipment quickly.
“We’ve not been in a position where we’ve got only a few days of some critical munition left. Right? But we are now supporting a partner who is … that’s a, to me, a really great example of why it matters to get this sort of thing right, of counting inventory, knowing where it is and knowing when it is,” he said.
McCord said there haven’t been any examples of the US promising equipment to Ukraine that it doesn’t have in its stockpiles. But there is very little oversight of the weapons once they are shipped to Ukraine.
The State Department recently announced some oversight measures after over eight months of pouring billions of dollars worth of weapons into the country. As part of this effort, the Pentagon said its personnel have begun conducting weapons inspections inside Ukraine, marking the first official confirmation of a US military presence on the ground in Ukraine since Russia invaded on February 24.
This article was originally featured at Antiwar.com and is republished with permission.
