Friday, March 01, 2019

Critical Cyber Vulnerabilities Ignored at Pentagon & US Treasury, Open Invitation For Criminals Worldwide

From David DeGraw:



The astounding lack of accountability and oversight concerning military spending and the hundreds of known "cyber vulnerabilities" that remain unfixed year after year amount to an open invitation for every criminal element worldwide. Clearly, global intelligence agencies, military contractors and hackers have ample opportunity to exploit this system.

Many Critical Cyber Vulnerabilities Ignored at Pentagon & U.S. Treasury, An Open Invitation For Criminals Worldwide
• The Treasury Department’s financial reporting system has significant security gaps that "leave the door open for online bad actors to tamper with the government's spending data." The Government Accountability Office discovered "eight different flaws in the system used by the department's Bureau of the Fiscal Service to check the accuracy of the annual financial reports it publishes for every government agency.” [source 70]
• These security gaps, in addition to "unresolved issues GAO previously identified within the bureau… 'increase the risk of unauthorized access to, modification of, or disclosure of sensitive data and programs and disruption of critical operations.'" [source 71]
• "The Fiscal Service Bureau is responsible for keeping tabs on the government's debt and monitoring agencies' revenue, spending, obligations and other fiscal behavior... auditors said future inaccuracies could go undetected." [source 72]
• "Of the eight flaws revealed in the audit, four could be exploited to illegally access and change financial data and resources, three could potentially allow for unauthorized changes to hardware and software security, and one involved the bureau's risk management system… they collectively represent 'a significant deficiency' in the bureau's internal controls, GAO said….." [source 73]
• Investigators also found the bureau had yet to fully correct 15 different deficiencies GAO identified in previous audits, including some the bureau said had already been addressed." [source 74]
• A DoD IG audit recently reported that "the Pentagon had yet to correct 266 cyber vulnerabilities highlighted in numerous watchdog reports between July 2017 and June 2018. Some of the issues were identified long ago — two dated back to 2008." [source 75]
• "Auditors specifically found many shortcomings related to cyber governance, or the policies and practices that help officials monitor risk. 'Without proper governance, the DoD cannot ensure that it effectively identifies and manages cybersecurity risk as it continues to face a growing variety of cyber threats…' the IG wrote in the annual report on the Pentagon's cyber posture.” [source 76]
• "In the redacted report, auditors detailed a myriad of issues that had gone unaddressed over the previous year. The department, for instance, has not yet taken steps to comply with the cybersecurity framework developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology." [source 77]
• "Auditors also reiterated the need to put in place more controls to limit user access and monitor activity across Pentagon networks. The IG published a separate report detailing how inadequate controls left billions of dollars in annual payments potentially vulnerable to bad actors." [source 78]

Known Solutions – That Can Save Tens of Billions of Tax Dollars Annually – Not Implemented
• Solutions to known problems that could save U.S. taxpayers at least $87 billion have not been implemented. "Congress is increasingly trying to force federal departments, especially the Pentagon, to quit disregarding audit recommendations on how to get more bang for billions of dollars in taxpayer bucks." Agencies have "not implemented more than 15,000 proposals from their inspectors general that could save $87 billion – some 38 percent of that money at the Pentagon." [source 79]
• "The Defense Department has more unheeded audit recommendations than any other agency, according to the Government Accountability Office. The Pentagon has failed to implement more than half the 1,122 recommendations that GAO has put forth to improve defense programs since fiscal 2014…. 'It's unacceptable that federal agencies ignore thousands of recommendations on how to become more efficient and save taxpayer dollars,," Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C…." [source 80]
• In addition to the GAO recommendations, "For the second year in a row, the Defense Department's inspector general has released what it calls a 'compendium' of open recommendations. The document… details all of the recommendations the DOD IG has issued to the Pentagon that have been awaiting management attention for at least a year, [it] now includes 1,558 separate matters, up from 1,298 in the 2017 version. Fifty-six have been open for at least five years; seven have been open for eight years or more…." [source 81]
• "The DoD OIG reported a number of open and unimplemented recommendations that appear straightforward and easy to implement, yet… have remained outstanding for years. For instance, in 2010, the DoD OIG issued a report concerning the Air Force’s time and materials contracts…. The OIG reported… this unimplemented recommendation represents a potential cost savings of over $24 million. Although the DoD OIG made the recommendation nearly six years ago, [it] has remained unimplemented and the cost savings for taxpayers remains unrealized.” [source 82]
• The Pentagon is also a significant offender when it comes to improper payments, another large-scale government-wide scandal, which accounted for $144 billion in misspending in just one fiscal year, FY 2016. "A major portion of wasteful government spending is a broad category known as 'improper payments,' which are payments made in the wrong amount, to the wrong people, or for the wrong reason. An estimate from fiscal year 2016 showed $144 billion in misspending that year – an all-time high. These improper payments result from insufficient financial accountability, and divert dollars from where they are needed." [source 83]
** In addition to the above, here are a few points featured in a prevous section of this report

First-Ever Full-Scope Audit Failed, No Congressional Briefing
• In December 2018, the Pentagon failed its first-ever full-scope audit, “a massive effort that was continually put off since it was first called for in a 1990 law.”
• Based on the limited information that was released, 16 Pentagon agencies failed their audits. The audits found "glaring shortcomings in the Department's management of its IT systems" and overall "the Department did not have the necessary tracking systems to fully keep tabs on money flowing in and out." [source 46] (see also section 6 for more critical accounting problems)
• A report summarizing Ernst & Young's initial Defense Logistics audit said: "Across the board, its financial management is so weak that its leaders and oversight bodies have no reliable way to track the huge sums [of tax money] it's responsible for, the firm warned in its initial audit… as the auditors found, the agency often has little solid evidence for where much of that money is going." [source 47]
• According to people who spent their careers working for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service, the books are cooked as Standard Operating Procedure. There are thousands of transactions per month without any supporting documentation and money is spent without Congressional allocation. [source 48]
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Are you starting to understand what is happening?
This email is getting too long... I have 165 pages of this info, and it gets MUCH WORSE... trillions of dollars have gone out the back door and corruption is running wild!!
I'm doing my best to spread this info / evidence so we can overcome divide & conquer propaganda to unite & defend the American people.
These reports have been supported by military & Intelligence Community Officers, and by people with opinions across the entire political spectrum.
As you will read throughout this investigative series, high-ranking DoD and Intelligence Community Inspector General Investigators have blown the whistle on all of this shocking corruption, only to be retaliated against. Overall, a record number of whistleblowers throughout the DoD have been retaliated against and silenced.
Personally, in the process of reporting on all this, I have been hacked, my previous website and IP was hijacked, reports have been removed from Google search results and I have been censored & suppressed online every step of the way.
Recently, Google has relisted my report and the tide is beginning to shift, momentum is building. There are still people within our government who care about protecting the overall wellbeing of the American people, as opposed to just cashing-out to Global War Profiteers. They are a shrinking demographic though, and they need our support!
There are many Constitutional Patriots who see what's happening, hence the record number of whistleblowers. People who know the most about military spending know that corruption has reached an epidemic level and is now a critical National Security priority. We need to build public awareness and support around this issue.
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Based on the extensive evidence provided throughout this series of reports, it is evident that we are obligated to confront an extremely disturbing reality: under the guise of National Security, an outrageously corrupt culture of unaccountable War Profiteering has taken over the United States government. The U.S. Treasury is being looted and the Constitution has been effectively rendered null and void.
The fact that these issues have not been covered in the mainstream media, the subject of significant congressional investigations, and a primary focus of political representatives calls into serious question the integrity and legitimacy of all leadership and responsible parties.
In light of the information contained within this investigative series, a Congressional Investigation Committee needs to take immediate action. As a top National Security priority, Congress must urgently begin wide-scale investigations into the epidemic of systemic corruption throughout the Pentagon.
Senior Congressional leaders such as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley, Vice Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee Mark Warner, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence member Ron Wyden, and their "Senate and House colleagues have, thanks to the country's founders, ample Article I power to aggressively protect DoD and Intelligence Community whistleblowers and punish their bureaucrat retaliators."
They also have a Constitutional obligation to serve as a check and balance on how our tax dollars are allocated and spent. Their failure to fulfill these Constitutional responsibilities "is precisely why fraud, waste, corruption and criminal conduct" have now taken over the United States tax system.
 
P.S.
Apologies if I'm sending too many emails lately. Trying to keep momentum going on newreport and fighting for survival.
Everyone is so bombarded with information. It's hard to break through all the noise, and with algorithmic suppression online now, e-mail is my most effective communication method.
Sending emails is like slipping notes under the algo-barbed-wire these days. At this point, I'm ready to try carrier pigeons and fire up some smoke signals.
You can download all 3 extensive reports (165-pages) on the unaccounted for trillions for any price you want here.
Thank You to everyone who has subscribed and donated.
We have raised $2k of the $5k that we need to keep going.
If you appreciate my work and want to see more of it, now is the time to step up in support.
Very Grateful for all the support,
~ David

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