“Duty, honor, country” is the motto of the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, New York. Contrast that with the Pentagon’s response to its first attempted audit after almost three decades of requests: “We failed the audit, but we never expected to pass it,” said Patrick Shanahan, the current deputy secretary of defense who will assume the title of acting defense secretary starting Jan. 1.
This nonchalant, arrogant dismissal of gross accounting errors and fraud is an embarrassment to American exceptionalism and the proud history of the U.S. armed forces.
