Pentagon: What Happens In Vegas... Is Apparently Charged To Defense Dept. Credit Cards
from the your-tax-dollars-on-red dept
Once again, we find the public sector lagging behind the private sector in terms of efficiencies, technological aptitude, etc. In this particular case, the public sector is slipping down the "hiding your hooker/gambling purchases from your employer" curve:
A not-yet-released Defense Department investigation has found civilian and military employees used government charge cards to make more than $1 million in purchases at casinos and to pay for escorts, according to an internal report.In the private sector, these purchases would normally be covered up by cash advances or by utilizing savvier services who bill customers under innocuous names. Over at the Pentagon, no one seems to care. Just put it on the DoD's tab! Who's going to take a close look at a few thousand credit card statements?
Well, the Inspector General apparently did. And discovered that this occurred 4,437 times in a one-year period. Of course, the Pentagon is trying to play this down by pointing out that this total represents only 0.5% of the charges accrued over the same period. Left unaddressed is the principle of the thing, wherein taxpayers are often displeased to find their funds have been spent on hookers and roulette spins. And, of course, this would be displeasure in addition to the preexisting disgruntlement about the normal, everyday spending that helps keep the country operating at a steady
The DoD official also offered this reassuring statement that safely hedges the almost-assertions while simultaneously undercutting most of the intended reassurance.
Some or all of the charges may have been paid by the individuals, rather than the government, according to the official.This statement is a little better, although essentially meaningless without the context of the full IG report.
The Defense official said the individuals who used their cards inappropriately will be held accountable, noting action has been taken on 364 cases and an additional 79 cases are pending action.But the most interesting statement offered in defense of Pentagon employees and their indiscretionary spending is this one:
One official speculated to Politico the individuals may have used their government -- instead of their personal -- cards to hide the illicit activities from their spouses.I'm not sure if that makes me feel better or worse about these government employees. This is very much a human nature problem. And the government still hires from the human race because there are currently no better options. No matter how much we'd hope it would hold potential and current employees to a higher standard (perhaps higher than one we're willing to apply to ourselves), there's still going to be a certain amount of misconduct and malfeasance.
But even if occasional abuse is unavoidable and the possible motivating factors understandable, the behavior is still far from acceptable. Are we supposed to feel better that this scenario will more likely result in the repayment of charges by the employee who racked them up? Do we raise a half-hearted cheer to the possibility that DoD employees aren't trying to abuse taxpayer funds but rather hiding their gambling and escort purchases from their significant others?
I can see how facing the internal wrath of a Pentagon supervisor would be preferable to discussing this activity with a spouse… or their lawyer. But it's still a betrayal of trust -- on several levels -- even if it is only a very small percentage of the whole.
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Filed Under: casinos, defense department, dod, escorts, las vegas
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Borrowing from Peter...
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To be fair....
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Re: To be fair....
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We should be cheering, but...
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I suspect this is being overblown....
A bit point about only using the card for official business was made, and at least in my case, I only did use it for such. But given the way the card was managed, I could easily see someone using the card for personal business and simply not get reimbursed for those personal charges and having to go out of pocket in order to pay off the card. The card was NOT a simple "Use the card to make charges and the government automatically pays the debt" As I said, it was more along the line of a normal card where I get the bills and any non-payment simply resulting in my commander getting the notice as well as myself, and the commander would then take steps.
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Re: I suspect this is being overblown....
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Still easy to abuse if the employee isn't trustworthy... which is why only certain employees are given this option.
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Re: I suspect this is being overblown....
But even if they are using that process, its likely the US Government is the Guarantor on these cards, meaning if the employee doesn't pay, the government does. Additionally, that does not address the idea that the US is paying interest on the personal purchases of its employees.
Finally, The second half of the article discusses a quesiton of whether we should be more concerned that we are paying for 1 million dollars in personal expenses, or that we helped hide 1 million dollars in personal expenses from the spouses of the employees in question. Because that suggests a willingness to lie endemic in the organization.
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Re: Re: I suspect this is being overblown....
Honey I noticed we didn't receive your full paycheck this time, what happened?
...or even better...
What do you mean you were fired?!? What did you do to get fired?
Of course if the spouse doesn't ever check the books and just is oblivious to the family finances then I can see someone hiding it from their spouse. However if this was the case then they could just use their personal card because their spouse would never see the charges anyway.
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Perhaps the DEA and DOD should work together
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Re: Perhaps the DEA and DOD should work together
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1) They could gamble more with your checking/savings/investment money and you don't get to find out about it. It's a private org.
2) They are pros at gambling. Only they call it Wall Street.
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Backing up the DoD A.C.
Per the FTR (Federal Travel Regulations), the card can only be used for authorized expenses. Typically, this is accommodation plus M&IE (meals and incidental expenses), and transportation.
Sometimes the cards get used for personal expenses. sometimes it's a weak human succumbing to temptation; sometimes just making a mistake.
I'm not defending people who deliberately misuse the cards - they need to be nailed hard.
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Re: Backing up the DoD A.C.
Sounds like some of them were... in Vegas... which is part of the problem in the first place.
/rimshot
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Re: Backing up the DoD A.C.
As I said, perhaps it is just my base, but they keep a close eye on things where I work.
To amplify what Former Fed said, I can tell you how we work travel at my base. Lodging, Airfare (plus bagage fees, if applicable), and rental car are all fully paid for. Other expenses are paid for out of a per diem allowance. If you use the travel card for incidental expenses, you have to provide receipts. However, you can elect to pay for the incidental expenses out of pocket and receive the per diem amount as a lump sum at the conclusion of the travel. If you charge expenses in excess of per diem, you are required to make it up.
When I signed up for my travel card, I signed an agreement that indicated that I am solely responsible for the charges on the card. The contractor will take me to court prior to charging my organization, at least to the best of my knowledge.
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Not all mis-spending is on hookers & casinos
His station was (and is) the mid-western data processing facility for a minor civilian agency. His position was (and is) IT security officer for the site, but the job boiled down to documenting efforts of the local facility to comply with mandatory IT security controls.
He used his training budget to send himself to San Diego (RSA) and Las Vegas every year. There were no "scandalous" expenses, but it was a complete waste of the agency's money.
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How successful it was remains a matter of debate.
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Some parts of the government require you to charge expenses only to their approved credit card. As mentioned above, paying for the charges was entirely your own responsibility. You didn't get reimbursed unless you submitted a documented expense report and had it approved.
The obvious reason for this was that you couldn't get a benefit from using a 'cash back' or travel points card. A less obvious reason was that you would have a credit card. You couldn't use a poor credit rating, and thus no credit card, as an reason to submit anonymous cash receipts.
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But my biggest question is, why are you reassured that the government's credit rating is being used to help an adulterer hide his indiscretions?
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Re: Re: Adultery
This is the DoD, and while not every DoD employee is subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice, Adultery is already covered in article 134 as a punishable offence if it discredits the service. Using the GOVCC to fund, at least initially (see the above comment describing the payback/reimbursement system), your adultery sounds like something that would discredit your service, especially in these days of FOIA and public records and leaks and whistleblowers... Anyway the point is if it's adultery and the perpetrators were uniformed they'll get theirs. The ones I worry about going unpunished are the civilian counterparts, they seem to have no actual accountability, and I'm pretty much tired of having to deal with fallout from their crap.
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