They might even get by with pleading ignorance.

Something they didn’t even ask for

Where did all that money from our taxes really go, if it wasn't to the budgeted items?

That people so admire the military has always amused me

that really help the service members. You cast a wide net, but It's specifically the nexus of (some) former military and buddy buddy politicians that accounts for most of the misspent money. Even while there is a corrupt acquisition process - a great number of honorable people also make up the military. Corruption starts at the political layer though. In the US many state politicians are corrupt, taking money under the table from contractors. When is the last time a public works project was completed at or under budget - or anything else for that matter? There are good people in the military who try to alert on fraud and abuse and are either ignored or their careers are sidelined. Under Trump wasted dollars on dead end contracts that will never produce any usable product has exploded far beyond what it has been under Democratic admins.

I guess what I'm saying is that while yes, there's always some corruption, the contracting process will reflect the ethics of the controlling administration and congress. When scoundrels are in charge of both, expect a lot of bullshit spending (our tax dollars) going straight into the pockets of their friends.

I retired awhile ago, but even then it was easy for anyone working in DoD to see that the US defense industry was consolidating and shrinking. There were fewer options for spare and repair parts. And once the big subcontracts with the prime contractor ended, the contractors didn't want to be bothered keeping anything unique to whatever equipment they made. The BRACs of the 90s eliminated a lot of DoD's ability to take up the manufacturing slack or enhance it. Adding to the problem was DoD wanting only to hold limited inventory and depend on OEMs for spares and repairs. Pentagon has really screwed the pooch when it comes to defense capacity and capability.

BRAC:

The biggest mistake was closing the huge Navy repair depot at Norfolk.

For sending all of our air defenses to Ukraine. This administration never is to blame for anything

I believe part of the problem is a shortage of the bits and pieces that make weapons work. Very little of what the military uses is 100% American made.

the raw materials like titanium and other metal ores are imported. High demand for these items causes long procurement lead times as buyers que up and inventory models incorporate the longer lead times resulting in larger procurement quantities and even longer lead times. It becomes a vicious cycle.

'Paranoid' Pentagon Officials Are Secretly Panicking" Maybe they should have panicked before this disaster unfolded, and we may have had time to avoid the whole disaster. Maybe