Pentagon, The Wastelands And boy, do I have a hundred dollar screwdriver for you, or how Rumsfeld never gets it right.

On Sept. 10, 2001, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld stood before hundreds of military officers and civilian employees at the Pentagon and delivered a blistering attack on what he saw as the next national security threat: Pentagon bureaucracy.

Remember this was the day before 9/11.

He called for quicker decision-making, greater accountability and a streamlined process to get weapons into the hands of soldiers faster. “We must transform the way the department works and what it works on,” he said. “It could be said that it’s a matter of life and death — ultimately, every American’s.”

The terrorist attacks the next day did more than put Mr. Rumsfeld’s transformation plans in suspension. As new weapons systems were ordered to help fight the war on terror, Pentagon spending after 9/11 jumped by hundreds of billions of dollars. And so did waste.

And how much is it up. I will tell you.

Cost overruns have long been a Pentagon staple. But what has alarmed government oversight agencies and Pentagon observers, and spurred Congress to act, is the magnitude of the spending increases. Projects are as much as 50 percent over budget and up to four years late in delivery.

So there you go.

  ¶ 7/11/2006 07:58:00 AM