Part 7/10:
This ongoing failure was announced last Friday by Michael McCord, the Under Secretary of Defense, who revealed that more than half of the 28 audited entities received "disclaimers of opinion," meaning they did not provide sufficient data for a full assessment. Only a few, including the Marine Corps, Defense Health Agency, and the National Reconnaissance Office, achieved clean audits this year. McCord claimed progress, citing resolutions of previous issues and a total audit cost of approximately $178 million involving 1,700 auditors—yet, the department still cannot definitively track most of its assets.