Follow us on social

'Humiliated': Pentagon fails 7th audit in a row

'Humiliated': Pentagon fails 7th audit in a row

The DOD has never passed the fiscal test, but has plenty of excuses as to why.

Reporting | QiOSK

Unable to account for the entirety of its more than $824 billion budget, the Pentagon has failed its seventh consecutive annual budget audit.

Technically, the Pentagon received a disclaimer of opinion, meaning it failed to provide auditors with sufficient data. Of the 28 reporting entities undergoing audits, 9 received an “unmodified” audit opinion, or a clean audit, 15 received disclaimers and thus did not pass, and another three are pending a final decision.

A final entity received a “qualified opinion,” meaning auditors claimed budget misstatements or omissions were present, but that the finances presented were still generally reliable.

Pentagon officials claim progress on budget transparency issues and aim to achieve a clean audit in 2028, as required by the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act. Indeed, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer Michael McCord stressed that the Defense Department “has turned a corner in its understanding of the depth and breadth of its [financial] challenges,” despite the disclaimer of opinion received.

"The Department continues to need the sustained investment, senior leadership commitment, and the support of our partners in Congress, federal regulators, the audit community, and our military and civilian personnel to accomplish its audit goals," McCord said. “An unmodified audit opinion has always been the Department's primary financial management goal, and with their help, I know it is achievable."

Others aren’t convinced. “Our Pentagon can’t 'fully account' for a budget that’s worth over $824 billion after they fail their 7th consecutive audit,” Tennessee Congressman Tim Burchett wrote on X. “They should be humiliated.”

Critically, the Pentagon, which only became legally obligated to complete audits in 2018, has never passed one. Furthermore, it was unable to sufficiently document 63% of its almost $4 trillion in assets last year. And yet, the chronically runaway Pentagon budget is only slated to grow. Namely, the 2025 defense budget’s expected to sit at just over $833 billion, which, while less than the originally proposed $849.8 billion budget, is still about $8.6 billion more than the current one.

Zooming out, U.S. involvement in conflicts overseas has only escalated as war continues in Ukraine and deepens in the Middle East. Ultimately, these conditions do little to promote or reflect defense budget accountability or restraint.


Top photo credit: An aerial view of the Pentagon, in Washington, District of Columbia. (TSGT ANGELA STAFFORD, USAF/public domain)
Reporting | QiOSK
Trump Milei
Top image credit: U.S. President Donald Trump welcomes Argentina's President Javier Milei at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., October 14, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Trump bet $40B on Milei, but what do Americans get out of it?

Latin America

It has been a busy week for U.S. policy towards Argentina.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced Wednesday that the U.S. would be doubling the assistance it is marshaling for Argentina from $20 billion to $40 billion. The increase comes ahead of legislative elections on October 26 that will elect half the lower house and one-third of the upper house, and represents an increasingly strenuous effort in Washington to bolster Argentine President Javier Milei financially and politically.

keep readingShow less
Von Der Leyen Zelensky
Top image credit: paparazzza / Shutterstock.com

Blame game erupts in Europe as Ukraine strategy falters

Europe

Angela Merkel, the eternal pragmatist, has chosen her moment. In a recent interview to Hungarian media, the former German chancellor pointed a finger at Baltic and Polish leaders for their alleged role in “undermining” a potential EU-Russia dialogue before the war.

Whatever one thinks of her legacy, Merkel has an unmatched sense of political timing. Her statement is not a historical aside; it is the opening salvo in Europe’s looming blame game for the impending defeat in Ukraine.

Her comments land at the precise moment the foundational assumptions of Europe’s Ukraine policy are collapsing. On the battlefield, Russian forces are now grinding out slow, but steady gains. In the United States, Donald Trump keeps insisting that this is “Biden’s war,” not his, and that it should end.

keep readingShow less
Congo DRC M23
Top photo credit: Demonstration raising awareness of the conflict and humanitarian crisis in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in Brussels in the Brussels Capital province of Belgium on October 8, 2025. (Hans Lucas/Reuters)

No, Trump did not 'end' the war in the Congo. It's as bloody as ever.

Africa

Earlier this week, Donald Trump made the bold claim that he’s responsible for ending eight wars since taking office this past January — in other words, nearly one war each month of his presidency.

Among the wars on his list is the decades-long conflict between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda, which has mired central Africa since the days of the Rwandan genocide in the 1990s in a quagmire conflict involving over one hundred armed groups.

keep readingShow less

LATEST

QIOSK

Newsletter

Subscribe now to our weekly round-up and don't miss a beat with your favorite RS contributors and reporters, as well as staff analysis, opinion, and news promoting a positive, non-partisan vision of U.S. foreign policy.