{"id":35020,"date":"2018-11-15T17:04:22","date_gmt":"2018-11-15T17:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/15\/the-pentagon-failed-its-audit-but-officials-arent-surprised\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T00:10:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T00:10:13","slug":"the-pentagon-failed-its-audit-but-officials-arent-surprised","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/it-networks\/2018\/11\/15\/the-pentagon-failed-its-audit-but-officials-arent-surprised\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pentagon failed its audit, but officials aren\u2019t surprised"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 The U.S. Department of Defense \u201cfailed\u201d its first-ever audit, expected to be released Thursday, according to its No. 2 official.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan<\/a> isn\u2019t surprised at the result, saying it was widely expected the audit would find issues. The audit, concluded through the DoD\u2019s Office of Inspector General, has long been sought by lawmakers and good-government groups.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe never thought we were going to pass an audit, right? Everyone was betting against us that we wouldn\u2019t even do the audit,\u201d Shanahan told reporters Thursday at the Pentagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE DETAILS ABOUT WHAT THE AUDIT FOUND<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome of the compliance issues are irritating to me because the point of the audit is to drive better discipline in our compliance with our management systems and our procedures,\u201d he added. \u201cSome of those things frustrated me because we have a job to do and just have to follow our procedures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among those issues are what Shanahan called \u201cinventory accuracy,\u201d or issues where the central database at the Pentagon identified inventory that simply wasn\u2019t there in the real world. He also hit on the need to be \u201cbetter\u201d at cybersecurity compliance and discipline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The audit officially launched last December<\/a>, much to the relief of long-annoyed members of Congress<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 1990 law passed by Congress required audits for all government agencies. But the Pentagon has been the sole holdout, with leadership across several administrations arguing the building is too large and has too many systems that don\u2019t link up, to give any kind of helpful result that would be worth the cost.<\/p>\n\n\n\t