WASHINGTON, Oct. 20 - Hundreds of defense contractors that defrauded the U.S. military received more than $1.1 trillion in Pentagon contracts during the past decade, according to a Department of Defense report prepared for Sen. Bernie Sanders.[...] The report detailed how the Pentagon paid $573.7 billion during the past 10 years to more than 300 contractors involved in civil fraud cases that resulted in judgments of more than $1 million, $398 billion of which was awarded after settlement or judgment for fraud. When awards to "parent" companies are counted, the Pentagon paid more than $1.1 trillion during the past 10 years just to the 37 top companies engaged in fraud. Another $255 million went to 54 contractors convicted of hard-core criminal fraud in the same period. Of that total, $33 million was paid to companies after they were convicted of crimes. Some of the nation's biggest defense contractors were involved.

Remember finding out that $6.6 billion had simply vanished in the black hole of the Iraq war? Just a tiny little drop in the defense waste, fraud, and abuse bucket

Note, this isn't being asserted by Sen. Bernie Sanders, though the press release is coming from him. This is a Department of Defense report. The same department who's head, Leon Panetta, has been screeching about the apocalyptic possibilities should defense sustain any cuts.

"It will truly devastate our national defense," Panetta told lawmakers last week. "We will have to hollow it out ... I don't say that as scare tactics. I don't say it as a threat. It's a reality."[...] Why all the hubbub? An awful lot of ships, planes, weapons systems and soldiers are at stake. The Pentagon is facing a worst case scenario of up to $1 trillion in defense cuts over the next decade if the super committee fails, according to an analysis by the Center for a New American Security, a defense think tank.

No, no defense infrastructure has to be at stake. You need $1 trillion in defense cuts? End the contractor welfare program. There's $1.1 trillion that's been going to contractors who have committed fraud with all the taxpayer money they've already got from us. That seems like some pretty obvious fat to cut. So Panetta needs to read the report from his underlings, as well as the tables showing where that $1.1 trilliion went. Then end those contracts.