Is Pentagon's Credit Card Spending Defenseless?
Defense Dept. Can't Keep Credit Card Spending in Check
When Rep. Steve Horn, R-Calif., cited an example of a woman who bought a $400 Coach briefcase with her government credit card, Valdes said the woman who made that purchase was a good employee. "She probably made an honest mistake and happened to be at Nordstrom's and purchased that bag. I think she'll do better next time," he said.
Next time? Right. It's not as if she was fired. The government rarely fires anybody. Many employees who misused their cards weren't even reprimanded. One Navy employee used her credit card to buy a stove, groceries, and $12,000 in personal items. What happened to her? She was promoted!
Deirdre Lee, a Defense Department procurement officer, assured Rep. Horn in the hearing that the department would "investigate the appropriate circumstances and take the appropriate action."
That would be comforting — except that they've held two more hearings and the shopping sprees continue.
At the last hearing, Sandra Peck, Assistant Secretary of the Army, Financial Management and Comptroller, said, "I've been in this position for eight months and I've just now come to understand the scope of this. … Give me six months, and let's see what we can do about this."
$4,000 Lost for Every American
I'm not hopeful that they'll do much about it, given that at least one Congressman, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., wants to double the purchase limit on some government credit cards.
"Allowing your purchasers to go out and get the government the best deal, at the end of the day, will save the government far more money, and we can do a better job of cutting down on abuse as well," Davis said.
I asked him whether they should first fix the credit card fraud problem before increasing the purchase limits.
"We spend a lot of time and effort in government making sure that people can't steal money. And we're usually pretty successful at that," he said.
"Usually. But not in this particular case," Davis acknowledged.
Is this a "particular" case? These credit card purchases are just the latest in a long line of examples of the Pentagon's poor money management. A 2000 audit found the Defense Department couldn't account for more than a trillion dollars. That's equal to losing $4,000 for every single American.
