The United States spends more on defense than the next 15 nations combined, including its NATO allies, Russia and China. At roughly $600 billion a year, the defense budget consumes about 54 percent of all the federal government's $1.1 trillion in discretionary spending. And that doesn't include scores of billions more "black budget" dollars for defense-related intelligence and off-budget spending on combat operations.

Historically, the Pentagon never has been able to fully account for all of that money and, unquestionably, there is significant waste.

Recently, the nonprofit, nonpartisan Center for Public Integrity revealed a case that demonstrates the DOD's hubris, incompetence or both in terms of accounting for the taxpayers' dollars.

An Oregon-based software developer and privacy advocate filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the DOD, asking about a device known as a HotPlug, which enables authorities to transfer seized computers to laboratories for analysis without first turning them off. He asked how many of the units the Pentagon owned — not how the military used them.

The Pentagon replied that answering the question would require 15 million labor hours and cost $660 million — roughly what the military spends a year to train Iraqi soldiers.

Congress should ensure that the Pentagon uses some of the trainloads of money that taxpayers send over each year to develop a useful accounting system to meet the department's obligation for public disclosure.