Top House Republican calls for GAO to investigate Pentagon's audit failures

A top House Republican sent a letter Wednesday to the governmental watchdog group, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), calling for increased oversight of the Pentagon after the agency failed its seventh audit in a row.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Texas), who chairs the House Oversight subcommittee on government operations and the workforce, said in the letter to the GAO that he was requesting the watchdog keep up its assistance with tracking the Pentagon's finances.

"This will allow us to track [the Department of Defense (DOD)'s] progress toward achieving a clean audit opinion as well as progress in key areas that support a clean audit — the status of DOD financial management system modernization efforts and compliance with relevant legislative requirements," Sessions wrote in the letter obtained by The Hill.

The Pentagon announced last month that it failed its seventh audit in a row, but the federal agency, which has a more than $800 billion annual budget, said it has made progress in working toward a clean audit.

Michael McCord, under secretary of Defense comptroller and chief financial officer, said after the audit results came out that the Pentagon has made progress and is working toward a clean audit by 2028.

McCord also disputed the characterization that the Pentagon failed the audit, claiming that since around half of the agencies passed and half failed, it was not fair to give the Defense Department a failing grade.

In his letter, Sessions noted that GAO has designated the Pentagon with "pervasive deficiencies in the department’s business processes, internal controls, financial reporting, and financial management systems."

But he also noted the Defense Department has "improved over time and continued improvements can lead to financial or operational outcomes resulting from those efforts."

"Currently, significant challenges remain and DOD remains the only major agency that has never been able to achieve a clean audit opinion," Sessions wrote.

The Pentagon has not passed an audit since the agency became legally obligated to carry them out in 2018.

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