In 1978, Pentagon Wasted $5 Million on Travel and Entertainment

The Department of Defense spent over $1.2 million in 1978 — more than $5 million in 2022 dollars — on travel and entertainment.

Worse, it hid the spending in a fund for “emergencies and extraordinary expenses.”

For this misuse of taxpayer funds, Sen. William Proxmire, a Democrat from Wisconsin, gave a Golden Fleece award to the DOD for Pentagon brass’ spending.

The Pentagon took the funds from its “emergencies and extraordinary expenses” fund to pay for unreimbursed Congressional trips, receptions for foreign military leaders, welcoming parties and going away parties for the Pentagon hierarchy, flowers, corsages, gifts, tea parties for wives, boat cruises, conferences, lunches, dinners, change of command ceremonies and bulk purchases of alcoholic beverages, Proxmire noted in 1978 when he gave the award.

“These funds have been systematically misused,” Proxmire said then. “In one case, a retiring official was given a party by his colleagues with full expenses of $176 charged to the taxpayers. Then several days later, the same official gave a party for his friends at a cost of $271.80, again charging it to the taxpayers.”

Farewell parties for top officials often ran thousands of dollars, he said, while the National Security Agency spent $12,161.74 entertaining foreign visitors and some U.S. citizens.

“Sometimes local military bases entertain local officials with tax dollars,” the senator said. “A preholiday commanders’ reception in Philadelphia for ‘prominent officials and members of the Philadelphia Industrial community’ cost $975. A commanders’ reception for ‘local dignitaries’ in Richmond, Virginia, cost $604.”

Some of the most extensive entertaining was for visiting military leaders from other countries, including Chile, Venezuela, Argentina, Uruguay, Korea, Denmark, Norway, Turkey, Iran. Each trip cost on average about $2,000.

“Obviously, some amount of entertaining for diplomatic purposes may be necessary,” he acknowledged. “But I am convinced that it is an amount far, far less than now being spent.”

The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.