According to an unclassified report the CIA, NSA, NGA, DIA and ODNI all failed to achieve that minimum standard of an “unqualified audit opinion’ last year and the year before that. Indications are they will fail again this year as well. Is it just me or are we seeing a pattern here?
The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) “received an unqualified audit opinion for three years straight”, according to a Senate Select Intelligence Committee report, dated July 2012.
Meaning that in the opinion of the auditor’s the financial statements reflect a “true and fair view” of where the money is going and how it is being spent.
Unfortunately, the same report noted the “Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), National Security Agency (NSA) and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI)” all fell short of achieving the minimum standard of an unqualified audit opinion.
In other words, they failed to achieve the goal of a “clean audit.”
Meaning that the auditors in this case, had significant reservations in respect of matters contained in the financial statements of those agencies…
According to the report, “In order for the other major agencies of the Intelligence Community to achieve unqualified audit opinions by 2016, critical work must be accomplished in Fiscal Year 2013. This requires the leadership of the ODNI, CIA, DIA, NSA and NGA to inculcate a sense of urgency, not just among financial managers, but also across the entire organization, to assure continued efforts are made to reach the ultimate goal of achieving “clean” audit statements” (source: Senate Select Intelligence Committee report, pg 15 http://www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs112th/112192.pdf).
The CIA, NSA, NGA, DIA all failed to achieve that minimum standard of an “unqualified audit opinion.”
The report noted that, “critical work must be done to accomplish the goal of achieving “clean” audits by 2016.
The report raises serious questions about how money is being spent at these agencies.
The CIA, DIA, NSA, NGA and ODNI all refused comment on this story.
We also contacted the GAO for comment on this years audit – which they indicated is not complete yet?
We would encourage anyone within the U.S. intelligence community, who have knowledge or suspicions of fraud, waste or abuse to report it to the Government Accountability Office – Fraud Net (see video: GAO: FraudNet/Reporting Fraud http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYyhtYfXLYo&feature=related ).