An internal audit of the Defense Logistics Agency, has revealed that the Pentagon has no way to confirm roughly $800 million worth of construction projects, according to NPR. The audit concerned only this particular department, which is the military's main purchasing agent, and its $40 billion budget. The audit found that $800 million of this budget has no paper trail backing it up whatsoever, a scenario that would no doubt give many auditors howling nightmares. NPR noted that this is only the tip of the iceberg, as the Pentagon will soon be undergoing a full financial audit. It also pointed out that the Pentagon has not once ever passed an audit. 

The military's use of resources in Iraq, as described in a 2006 Inspector General's report, might be reflective of an overall problem with financial accountability: U.S. forces there held mountains of shrinkwrapped wads of cash stuffed in filing cabinets with pretty much no documentation of what was being done with them. The report estimates that millions had been lost to corruption or simply wasted.