The Department of Defense has announced plans to reduce the budget for discretionary Permanent Change of Station (PCS) moves by half over the next five years. The goal? Enhance stability for military families, save costs, and supposedly contribute to a more efficient Pentagon. It’s a fine gesture—sensible, even commendable. But let’s not pretend this is anything more than trimming the edges of a sprawling, unaccountable leviathan.
This minor logistical adjustment does nothing to address the DoD’s far more damning, systemic issue: it cannot pass an audit. Not once. Not ever.
Since 2018, the Pentagon has failed seven consecutive audits. In fact, it’s the only major federal agency to never have received a clean audit opinion in the three decades since the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990. We’re talking about an institution that consumes over $850 billion a year—on track to surpass $1 trillion under the Trump administration—and still can’t tell us where massive portions of that money go.
Let that sink in: year after year, the largest bureaucracy in the U.S. government cannot verify how it spends your money.
This is not just an embarrassment; it’s a national disgrace.
According to the Government Accountability Office, the DoD has more than 100 unresolved recommendations aimed at curbing fraud, waste, and abuse—many dating back over 20 years. Between 2017 and 2024 alone, over $10.8 billion in confirmed fraud has been reported. There are infamous examples of outrageous spending, from a $52,000 trash can to a $7,600 coffee maker. One defense contractor was even caught altering paperwork for a critical weapon component. Had it gone unnoticed, it could’ve put soldiers’ lives at risk.
And yet, year after year, Congress keeps writing blank checks.
Why? Because defense spending has become sacrosanct. Anyone who dares question it is branded unpatriotic or “soft on defense.” But patriotism is not blind indulgence; it is stewardship. It means demanding that the government entrusted with our safety is also accountable for how it spends the taxpayers’ dollars.
Reducing PCS moves won’t fix a culture that shrugs at billions in untraceable spending. It won’t resolve the deep rot in procurement, oversight, and financial accountability. What’s needed is structural reform: mandatory audit compliance with real consequences, a revamped acquisition system, and the political will to stop shielding the Pentagon from the fiscal scrutiny every other agency must endure.
Senator Bernie Sanders and even Elon Musk—hardly ideological twins—have both called out the Pentagon’s bloat. When voices from opposite ends of the political spectrum converge, it’s a signal: this is not a partisan issue. It’s a commonsense one.
If Congress is serious about serving the public, it’s time to end the myth that military spending is beyond reproach. Our troops deserve better. Our taxpayers deserve better. America deserves better.
PCS reform is a pebble. We need an earthquake.
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