The United States – The well-oiled industrial military complex is something we rarely think of in terms of a machine that sources and supplies, food, oil, clothes and weapons necessary to fight the modern wars that we are familiar with watching as they unfold on the television. But, after a year-long investigation by reporter Damien Spleeters for Motherboard, a $40 billion industry (annually) with a neighborhood of 800 bases in 80 countries has been uncovered.
The billion dollar industry called The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) employs over 26,000 employees, working with in excess of 24,000 suppliers. Their job is to procure items for war: guns, uniforms, medical supplies, food, and construction equipment, among any other necessary items called for.
It’s not an industry acknowledged by Citizen Joe. According to Spleeters, “the agency is largely ignored politically and by the layperson.” His investigation comes at a time when thousands of defective gun parts were shipped to Iraq and Afghanistan. “Thirty percent of soldiers who used the M249 machine gun have experienced jamming or stoppage of the weapon while engaging in combat; at least 60 guns literally exploded in the hands of American soldiers between 2008 and 2009,” according to Motherboard, from safety center records obtained.
The DLA refused to respond to an interview request by Motherboard. Their ability to get what they want when they want is generally an oversight that the public aren’t interested in.
Image: DLA powerpoint presentation via Motherboard
“Logistics are kind of boring, which is sad because it’s one of the most important aspects of the American military machine,” contributing editor and investigator Matthew Gault, said. “Generally catching waste or oversights has to do with bureaucracy and middle managers and lack of good tagging or computer systems. It’s so large that any meaningful investigation means looking at hundreds or thousands of pages of spreadsheets.”
Image: DLA powerpoint presentation via Motherboard
During the investigation, Motherboard published documents that showed the expenditure and wasteful nature of DLA. Defective parts purchased were destroyed rather than refunded, according to one Reuters report. DLA director Mark Harnitchek told executives in 2013 that $14 billion of inventory is kept in warehouses, thought reportedly, DLA will attempt to cut down on spending.
Even though one investigation discovered the DLA had spent 14.7 million on a storage facility they never used, the investigators of War Is Boring have said the DLA is more efficient than their predecessors from the World War II era.
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