The Pentagon does not merely fail its audits; it is structurally designed to be unauditable. The eighth consecutive failure of the US Department of Defense to pass a financial audit is neither an administrative accident nor a technical deficiency. It is the clearest evidence that the world's largest military machine operates outside any real mechanism of accountability, completely disconnected from the concept of public oversight.
Since 2018, when Congress first mandated audits for all major federal agencies, the Pentagon remains the only department that has never received a clean audit opinion. It manages assets worth over $4.6 trillion and liabilities that exceed them, with facilities in every US state and dozens of countries worldwide. Yet, no one can guarantee exactly where this money ends up.
Where is the money going?
The auditors themselves identified dozens of serious weaknesses in the Department of Defense's financial management system, several of which are classified as "material." In the technical language of accounting, this term means something extremely simple and equally disturbing: that financial statements may be substantially incorrect without anyone knowing. When these weaknesses number in the dozens, transparency vanishes, replaced by a murky landscape designed to absorb responsibility and erase tracks.
In this environment, fraud is not an exception; it is part of the operational model. The US Government Accountability Office admits that the Pentagon faces a "significant risk of fraud" from its defense contractors. From 2017 to 2024, over $10 billion in confirmed fraud cases have been recorded, with dozens of criminal investigations ongoing. Yet, very few cases result in actual convictions. The amounts recovered represent only a small fraction of potential losses, as auditors themselves concede.
Paranoia as the new normal
Stories of outrageous overcharging—from trash cans costing tens of thousands of dollars to coffee makers priced like gold—are not merely anecdotes. They are symptoms of a system in which major defense firms know they will never truly be held accountable. Even more alarming are cases of forged quality certificates for weapon system components, where fraud does not just cost money but can also cost lives.
The Deadly 5
At the heart of this system lie five giant contractors—the true pillars of the American military-industrial complex. These companies absorb the lion's share of military orders and effectively dictate the rules of the game. The lack of real competition leads to delays, cost overruns, and technological stagnation. Any innovation not originating from them must navigate a labyrinth of approvals known in Washington as the "Valley of Death," where it can take decades to be approved—if it ever is. By then, the technology is already obsolete.
The five giants holding the state hostage:
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Lockheed Martin
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Raytheon (RTX)
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Northrop Grumman
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Boeing
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General Dynamic
In this context, war ceases to be a political tool and transforms into a financial mechanism. Active conflict zones are not just geopolitical events but necessary conditions for maintaining the profitability of an industry fueled by fear, tension, and prolonged crises. The conflict in Ukraine and the constant confrontation with Russia and China serve as a guarantee that the weapons production lines will never stop.
And here lies the darkest truth: none of this is going to change substantially. No president, regardless of rhetoric, has the will or the power to clash with a system that links the Pentagon, Congress, major defense firms, and Wall Street in a single cycle of power. Even official goals for "clean audits" in a few years are viewed by independent analysts as unachievable.
The Pentagon is not just an organization failing to function properly. It is a mechanism that has evolved to absorb public funds without meaningful oversight, to reproduce crises, and to turn war into a stable business plan. In this system, corruption is not a deviation from the norm; it is the norm. As long as this rule remains intact, one word suffices to describe the operation of the American military-industrial complex: theft.
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