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Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

breakingdefense.com

271–279 of 279 posts

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#271
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Equally wild is when "fiscal conservatives" complain about spending, it's only on social programs they disagree with. Fraud and/or waste should be a subject of concern regardless of the program that experiences it.

The government isn't a household and its finances don't need to be treated as one. I think everyone in government knows this they just don't want constituent's to realize it so they hem and haw about any spending they don't like. Neither side super cares about social programs, dems just aren't the ones to cut them typically. If you notice, whenever dems have launched a plan in the past 30-40 years they always say how…

> Neither side super cares about social programs

Being that social programs are only promoted by dems, and are actively attacked by republicans, I find that statement odd. Yes, the DNC is very much owned by its corporate masters, but there is a distinct difference between the two parties.

The trope of "both sides are the same" is worn out.

Disclaimer: I'm not a member of either party and believe that political parties and partisan politics are bad for the country.

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#272
post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Equally wild is when "fiscal conservatives" complain about spending, it's only on social programs they disagree with. Fraud and/or waste should be a subject of concern regardless of the program that experiences it.

I wouldn't pin this on any particular party or ideology. Both major parties in the USA support dumping infinite unaccountable money into the military. It's one of the few things they agree on.

America requires that we love the military. Any criticism of the military is played as being against the troops and anti-American.

To quote Admiral Ackbar: "It's a trap!"

We need more focus on policy and outcomes, rather than performative politics on who loves the flag more.

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#273
post #231
post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, even in the Midwest, such as the Metro Detroit region, 250k is definitely attainable. I’m in that band and live there.

Base or with bonuses? I find it hard to get roles in the midwest (large metro in Ohio) clearing 200k, though sometimes bonuses get you up there.

TC, my base isn’t that high.

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

COBOL ONLY USES 2 CHARACTER YEARS IF THAT IS THE WAY IT WAS CODED. PEOPLE DIDN'T THINK THEIR 60'S - 90'S CODE WOULD STILL BE RUNNING IN 2000. COBOL DOES SUPPORT lowercase LETTERS. GET WITH THE TIMES!

> PEOPLE DIDN'T THINK THEIR 60'S - 90'S CODE WOULD STILL BE RUNNING IN 2000. That serves as evidence against this point, though: > COBOL in 60s was written with a lot more focus on lasting in general.

Yeah, that point is wrong in my opinion. I don't think programmers back then tried to build things to last any more than programmers today do.

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It definitely is not.

WTF. I worked on some high exposure projects as a senior dev and never a final offer above $130k USD. Even after haggling hard at a company I had been at for 3 years and they told me I was their top, highest paid engineer and it led me to quit. Then I got approached by Facebook to work in London HQ and the offer they were dangling was £100GBP which was about $130k USD. Highest offer I ever got before I even got to th…

To be fair, I think the 250k mark usually implies some kind of specialization.

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#276
post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where can I read more about this non Title 10 funding?

DoD Instruction 7000.14-R ( https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/documents/fmr/Vol... is a good start) Overseas Contingency Operations - https://www.cbo.gov/system/files?file=2018-10/54219-oco_spen... Nonappropriated funds (MWR, etc.) - https://comptroller.defense.gov/Portals/45/documents/fmr/arc... Foreign military sales / FMS - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_Military_Sales .

Thanks!

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The trick is to use JS. (Not anything that compiles to it) It will be guaranteed to run in 100 years time. Any other language can die or have incompatibility issues. Over that timespan.

You could use Java or Python and have the same guarantee. I am not convinced Node will be here in 100 years.

Node might not, but Javascript (even on the server) will mostly be.*

* assuming that the 100 years hyperbole is accepted

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#278

Sounds like an ideal job for AI. AI, please read this COBOL code and rewrite it all in Rust. Understanding 85 COBOL Standard reserved words is orders of magnitude easier than understanding English. AI should bludgeon this task in no time. And Rust can be 180,000x faster[1], all the code will be efficient and run on a mac mini or raspberry pi. It sounds like the easiest way for AI startups to make a pitch and collect…

I think you are hopelessly naive about the problems here. The physical , fingers-on-keys writing of the code represents 0.000001% of the effort. Simply translating the code to another language does nothing. What is needed is to understand every asset and role of multiple millions of employees. Take literally the biggest company in the world, multiply it by 40 or so in terms of assets, employees, supply chain complexity. There are so many edge cases. So, so many

Re: Pentagon fails audit for sixth year in a row

#279

Worked with a guy ten years ago that would obsessively read these reports from the Pentagon. Here's a couple of his stories about the matter: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/pentagon/ and https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-mari... (very old and I apologize for my horrific javascript at the time.) It sounds like nothing has changed. Relevant to this crowd, maybe: "Most of the Cobol code the P…

If it ain't broke, don't fix it, they say. But if it is already broken in significant ways, there is little point in not replacing it.
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