The Pentagon has been among the loudest critics of sequestration.
Forced budget cuts shaved nearly $45 billion from the Pentagon's budget and there's lots of talk in Washington about how detrimental it is to the Department of Defense.
But the agency's internal watchdog discovered this week, that the Pentagon wasted nearly $420 million on travel last year. That's roughly 5% of the nearly $8.5 billion the Pentagon spent on travel.
To put that into perspective, the Department of Defense could have bought four new fighter jets with money wasted on improper payments.
Phillip Swarts with the Washington Guardian, our investigative media partner, says non-compliance is at the heart of the waste. "Things like invalid signatures, paying for lodging without receipts, paying the wrong amount in reimbursements for meals."
Swarts says for failing to safeguard taxpayers money, the Pentagon wins this week's Golden Hammer Award.
What other issues did the inspector general find? For that visit the Washington Guardian.
