Quote :

"audits by the Government Accountability Office revealed widespread misuse of government credit cards by DHS employees, with purchases including beer brewing kits, $70,000 of plastic dog booties that were later deemed unusable, boats purchased at double the retail price many of which later could not be found, and iPods ostensibly for use in "data storage""

our tax payer money at work protecting us from turrists, drug dealers, and getting more of Bush's buddies cool jobs in the gov't. Was the DHS really needed?? I'd think all of its functions would be covered by the Dpt of Defence , Justice, and/or Interior.

9/10/2007 10:20:27 AM

hahaha iPods used as data storage

As sad as it is, none of this is surprising, nor is it limited to DHS. I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find examples of stupid spending in every department in the federal government (and probably most state government agencies too).

9/10/2007 10:32:10 AM

how about a link, faggot?

9/10/2007 10:35:20 AM

Kinda old but took about 10 seconds for me to find. Lowjack, homophobic much?

Quote :

"07/01/06 Homeland Security Homeland Security Buying Dog Booties and Beer-Making Equipment Having fun with government-issued credit cards, Homeland Security employees racked up hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in purchases of items necessary to thwart terrorism, like 2,000 dog booties, 54 iPods, 37 designer jackets and beer-making equipment. Government Accountability Office investigator Gregory D. Kutz told a hearing by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, “Poor training, lax oversight and rampant confusion over what employees are allowed to buy with government-issued credit cards “allowed potentially fraudulent, improper, abusive, or questionable transactions to go undetected.” He estimated that 45 percent of department purchases with the credit cards - reviewed from June to November 2005 - were deemed improper. Investigators also noted that Customs and Border Protection wasted up to $464,586 by buying meals-ready-to-eat over the Internet instead of contracting through the Pentagon, as is standard procedure. And they found that the Federal Emergency Management Agency couldn’t locate 22 printers and two GPS units worth $170,000, as well as 12 of 20 boats the agency bought for $208,000. Kutz said about 9,000 Homeland Security employees carry credit cards for business-related expenses. The cards usually have a $2,500 spending limit, but that was raised to $250,000 for emergencies after Hurricane Katrina hit last Aug. 29. Sen. Norm Coleman (Republican, Minnesota) said he was outraged that Homeland Security does not already have department-wide spending standards in place. “Is it a sense of, ’Well, it’s not my money?” Coleman said. “We give cards to folks and ultimately the responsible party is not the cardholder. It’s the government. That’s who’s responsible.”"

via http://www.apatheticvoter.com/GovernmentWaste-Federal.htm

9/10/2007 10:48:36 AM

A Democratic Party-type government scandal from Republican bureaucrat appointees.

What's the difference between these two parties, anyone?

9/10/2007 10:50:44 AM

thats a trick question

they are both out to screw the people

9/10/2007 11:04:29 AM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_Homeland_Security

Quote :

"how about a link, faggot?"

sorry i forgot. you do not have to be a complete douche about it jackass.

btw why the hell would they need 2000 dog booties????

[Edited on September 10, 2007 at 11:19 AM. Reason : l]

9/10/2007 11:18:26 AM

Quote :

"As sad as it is, none of this is surprising, nor is it limited to DHS. I'm sure if you looked hard enough you could find examples of stupid spending in every department in the federal government (and probably most state government agencies too)."

It's completely true. Every branch of the federal government does it, and the information is available to the public. Similar to the pork barreling done in Congress. Yet nobody stands up to it that's in the system, because they don't want to stop reaping the benefits.

9/10/2007 11:30:03 AM

Didn't we already have a thread discussing this before?

I think most of the agencies and functions within DHS were originally covered by Defense, Justice, Interior, State, etc. I believe the reason DHS was created was to link all the relevant organizations together into a single command structure so that Federal response to national security was better coordinated. For example, the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) service under DHS was created by merging functions that were scattered throughout the bureaucracy before, ranging from Dept. of Agriculture, DoJ (INS and the Border Service), and the US Customs Service.

As for corruption and waste, I think a lot of the problems stem from the rush by which the agency was created. From a procurement standpoint, a lot of the standard safeguards and processes were not adequately established at the launch of the department, particularly since you have so many different cultures being forced together, creating a lot of the messes you have now. This is particularly true for many of the big ticket procurement items where their systems and procedures are lacking and weak compared to the procurement regiments like DoD and NASA. I would almost call these teething pains, but in all honesty, I think it's just poor organization and coordination in the initial creation of the department.

That, or simply because the department is new, they get more scrutiny, shining new light on already broken procurement systems inherited from Agriculture and DoJ.

9/10/2007 11:31:11 AM

Doesn't suprise me at all. You would be amazed what sort of crap get purchased with government money or even just "institutional funds" like the money you pay to NCSU for tuition. And what's even worse is, all of these purchases are made tax free. Personal use and abuse of tax exempt credit cards is so wide spread it's kind of sickening. And because it's tax free, you and I get to make up for it with higher taxes when the government feels they aren't getting enough money.

9/10/2007 11:56:26 AM

You guys act like this doesn't also happen in every corporation and private household in America too.

it's not that we have some bad governmental system, it's that people are fucking stupid.

9/10/2007 12:37:21 PM

So the ppl investigating financial crimes are basically spending somebody else's money on shit they aren't authorized to buy.. yeah, they sound a whole hell of a lot better than the people they're after

9/10/2007 12:40:50 PM

I learned today Homeland Security pays 'agents' to watch railroad tracks to ensure they are not sabotaged.

Sit in a Jeep and watch vacant portions of rr track in NC.

Track owned by Norfolk Southern which was recently serviced. Track where no passenger rail runs.

Your government borrows money to pay salary and bennies for these people.

FYI

4/12/2014 10:44:45 PM

Norfolk Southern has their own "agents" that get paid by company money to do that.

4/13/2014 9:22:42 AM

You are correct. Except these were not them. They presented identification saying Department of Homeland Security.

4/13/2014 9:58:51 AM