US Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks accepted an offer by Jon Stewart to appear with him on stage for a panel to discuss veterans and the Defense Department.
Stewart, as I am sure you are aware, is active in calling out the use of burn pits that have caused cancer in so many of our veterans.
He hit Hicks a couple of times and she was clearly on the defensive.
Uppercut
Stewart had two really good moments in this discussion.
He summed up the Department of Defense for the impression it puts out there versus reality.
That moment, however, was nothing compared to when he called out Hicks for the lack of accountability for the Pentagon and its spending.
Hicks actually admitted that the Defense Department has no idea what inventory it has.
Stewart responded, “Now, I may not understand exactly the ins and outs, and the incredible magic of an audit.
“But I’m a human being who lives on the Earth and can’t figure out how $850 billion to a department means that the rank and file still have to be on food stamps.
“To me, that’s fucking corruption.
“And I’m sorry.
“And, if like, that blows your mind and you think that’s like a crazy agenda for me to have, I really think that that’s institutional thinking, and that it’s not looking at the day-to-day reality of the people that you call the greatest fighting force in the world.”
When you think of the money that goes through the Pentagon, by far, the largest portion of the yearly budget, and they don’t know what they have and where, well, that is simply criminal.
How about they take some of that $850 billion and figure out a proper tracking and inventory system?
Source: Task and Purpose
