Weapons jam: Pentagon sucks at removing foreign objects from its gear, auditors say
- Reference: 1753389490
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/07/24/the_pentagon_sucks_at_tracking/
- Source link:
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a [1]report Thursday blaming the Defense Department's procurement software for doing a poor job identifying the country of origin of parts in the gear it buys.
That's not to say the DoD is buying things from questionable foreign markets, mind you – it buys from American companies 95 percent of the time. As for where all the bits, bobs, and raw materials those US-based companies use to manufacture their goods? That's where the visibility trail ends, said auditors.
[2]
Neither of the two fields in the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) that track country of origin include space for recording component origins. Given that FPDS is the one-stop shop to see contract information, if it isn't in those fields, then it's not part of the process. The GAO looked through the records and suggests the data in there right now is a bit suspect.
[3]
[4]
Take microelectronics, for example. According to an analysis of FPDS records of DoD microcircuit purchases between 2020 and 2024, "nearly 100 percent" of the contracts list the US as the place of manufacture and country of origin. But there's no way that's the case, since most microcircuits are manufactured overseas and DoD leadership expressed concern over that data.
"According to DoD estimates, 88 percent of the production and 98 percent of the assembly, packaging, and testing of all microelectronics are performed overseas—primarily in Taiwan, South Korea, and China," the GAO wrote.
[5]
In other words, there are probably microcircuits in US military equipment that were manufactured overseas, and because no one is tracking these things properly, it's impossible to tell where.
The [6]embattled F-35 fighter jet has suffered from bad supply chain tracking too, the GAO says. According to its audit of F-35 purchases in FPDS, 114 of 115 contracts for the jet identify the US as the country of origin, but the DoD readily admitted it doesn't know where subcontractors are sourcing the parts.
That uncertainty came home to roost in 2022 when the Pentagon [7]suspended F-35 deliveries after manufacturer Lockheed Martin discovered Chinese-made alloy in magnets used in the aircraft's engine. That's a risk if China restricts exports of rare earth minerals – [8]exactly as it's doing now .
Still not trying hard enough
While the GAO acknowledged the Pentagon has taken steps to improve the supply chain origin tracking, it also said that those efforts haven't been very successful.
In one case, the DoD asked suppliers to voluntarily report the country of origin for all of their parts, but only 10 percent responded. The other initiative successfully catalogued supply chain data for weapons systems, but the GAO noted that it gave the DoD no way to ensure that future contracts would include origin information.
[9]Pentagon has little to show for two decades of GPS modernization work
[10]Pentagon celebrates snipping 0.58% from defense budget in IT, DEI cuts
[11]Engineers risk blasting US missile defense to smithereens, say auditors
[12]Pentagon declares war on 'outdated' software buying, opens fire on open source
The DoD's own Defense Business Board, an advisory body, provided [13]12 recommendations [PDF] for supply chain risk tracking back in January. The GAO said that, while the DoD built an office to implement those recommendations, nothing's happened since.
"DoD officials stated that they have not identified resources, priorities, and time frames for the office to complete relevant actions," the GAO noted. "In addition, according to DoD officials, the department has not identified the responsible organization for determining the actions DoD plans to take to implement the Defense Business Board recommendations."
[14]
The DoD is waiting on the Secretary of Defense's okay to act, it told the GAO. One would think that a Defense Secretary so focused on [15]rooting out waste would jump to give his okay for such an improvement – we reached out to the DoD with questions, but didn't hear back.
More excuses
The GAO pointed out that the DoD has one very useful tool at its disposal: It could contractually require country-of-origin information from suppliers.
The GAO obviously floated this idea to the DoD, and the report suggests that excuses were plentiful.
"Some DoD officials assert the information is readily available, others stated this approach may be too costly or that suppliers may not be willing to provide information," the GAO said. That didn't fly with the agency.
"Unless DOD tests the costs and challenges of requiring suppliers to provide foreign dependency information, it could be missing an opportunity to address a mounting challenge to the security of its supply chains," the auditors said.
The GAO made three recommendations, asking the DoD to build appropriate tracking systems, figure out how to implement those Business Board recommendations, and start demanding suppliers provide necessary information. ®
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[1] https://www.gao.gov/products/gao-25-107283
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aIZNMhQsUo37S8glt1vbyQAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIZNMhQsUo37S8glt1vbyQAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aIZNMhQsUo37S8glt1vbyQAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44aIZNMhQsUo37S8glt1vbyQAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/22/us_military_f35_readiness_problems/
[7] https://www.defensenews.com/air/2022/09/07/pentagon-suspends-f-35-deliveries-over-chinese-alloy-in-magnet/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/07/01/china_rare_earth_clampdown/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/09/10/gps_modernization_us_gao/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/11/defense_department_cancels_contracts/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/27/missile_defense_agency_audit/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/05/06/us_dod_software_procurement/
[13] https://dbb.defense.gov/Portals/35/Documents/Reports/2025/Final%20Stamped%20-%20DBB%20Supply%20Chain%20Illumination%20-%201-15-25%20-%20Report.pdf
[14] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/publicsector&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33aIZNMhQsUo37S8glt1vbyQAAAMc&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/24/pentagon_abandons_hr_software_overhaul/
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: The only way to do this
In general, passive components aren’t the concern.
Re: The only way to do this
Oh yes they are, because we don't make those in the US anymore. Just about every weapons system more complex than a machine gun has electronics in it and it will have boards that have passive components like resistors, capacitors, and so forth on it. If there's a war and the supply of those parts is cut off that's going to be a big problem before long because just in time manufacturing means no one is keeping much stock. If a war lasts for more than a few months there would inevitably be shortages of certain types of passive components.
Could we make those in the US? Sure, but there's a lot of stuff from the mundane like this to the important like batteries to the critical like chips where it is either already a problem (security of the chips) or will become a problem if there's a war and the supply is cut off. We might say "oh well resistors are simple we can set up a factory to make those" but there are gonna be tons of part numbers between all the different types of discretes and all the various ratings so we'd end up with relatively small runs for each to supply the DoD's needs. They'd cost 10x more easily, and since the DoD would be the only customer for US made resistors they'd probably mark them up another 10x just because the DoD is a captive customer and you wouldn't have any competition in for locally made resistors.
Re: The only way to do this
They'd cost 10x more easily
I suspect you are missing a 0 or two...
Re: The only way to do this
>In general, passive components aren’t the concern.
All components matter.
Ummaaarrr the military are avoiding Tariffs
Think of all that tax revenue the government is missing out from the military budget.
Perhaps that could fill the hole that the military budget puts in the national budget?
Re: Ummaaarrr the military are avoiding Tariffs
I guarantee the suppliers of completed products are paying tariffs on imported parts, and passing that on to the DoD and the US Taxpayers.
Getting Good Advice
The Israelis seem to be knowledgable about supply-chain security/vulnerabilities. The US DoD should ask them about that.
Re: Getting Good Advice
It won’t be an issue soon as The GAO are on the Orange Shit Gibbons reduction in force chopping block. Eliminating any measures of accountability.
The SCOTUS will override the independence of this guardrail organisation - whilst legal proceedings are on-going - and by the time they are reappointed after fully winning their case their office will look like post IDF Gaza.
Re: Getting Good Advice
Yep the Supreme Court is going along with Trump's worst stuff by denying the stays that are put in place in the normal order of things. They managed to run out the clock on their first yearly term, so most of these cases won't hit them for real until the current term - and they aren't required to publish their decision until next June. By that time all his damage will be done and even when their ruling is ultimately "the president can't do this, congress has the power of the purse" it will be impossible to reverse. The people who were illegally fired by Trump will have already found other jobs so few would be willing/able to return. They'll sue the federal government and win a fat payout, but Trump won't care since he won't be paying it out of his pocket.
If Biden had tried this the Supreme Court would have upheld the stays and blocked him. We need to get rid of the life term for justices, the Supreme Court we have is corrupt. If Trump gets to appoint anyone more to it it'll get far worse - he'll probably nominate one of his personal lawyers like Emil Bove who don't even pretend to care what the law is in their decision making.
I’m involved in product development, one of the subassemblies comes from Taiwan. I asked the manufacturer where the primary chip came from, and they never answered. We are redesigning to use a different subassembly where the origins, while not US, are at least from much friendlier parts of the world. Responsible manufacturers pay attention to these things, but many are in it for the easy money and don’t care.
Ghost Fleet
There's an interesting SF / technological thriller about possible consequences: Ghost Fleet https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22749719-ghost-fleet
Basically, China behaves naughtily but US platforms are not reliable due to hardware backdoors.
The authors are actually more defense analysts / futurists but they also moonlight as SF authors to make their concepts more digestible. Not bad, kinda like a Tom Clancy (the characterization is serviceable and really no worse than Clancy's).
Contractual Requirements
Are doable. The companies involved are more than capable of implementing the tracking. It's no harder than some of the other things written in. The DoD doesn't want to change the way contracts are written because it'll endanger some Senior Service Level guys retirement plan. Same reason Austal keeps getting contracts despite the ATROCIOUS rollout of the LCS/EPF platforms. Hesgeth is a joke of a "reformer" he says all the right things but implementation is, as always, lacking.
Audits ?
There's an easy way to make that problem go away. Fire all auditors , there will not be any more bad reports. Problem solved. Trumpian logic dictates the way to go and that is it. All those reports are bad for the USA's reputation so eliminate the problem at the source. Fire all who write the reports. Fire them all. The End.
We can overdo this
I purchased a small item from Adafruit recently. Printed on the invoice that came with the assembly was a note signed by a "Mary Jungman" that read in part "The products in this shipment do not contain steel or iron of Russian origin." I actually doubt if the assembly had any iron in it from anywhere. (BTW -- Note to bureaucrats -- steel is a form of iron.)
I feel that we're barking up the wrong tree(s). Just supposing we wanted to set up a production line for passives, there's nothing stopping us, you just source the machinery (from where?) and off you go. Obviously you'll need to know where all the materials you use to make the parts come from with a lot of those materials being sourced from other manufactures (e.g. the little metal bits on the end and the tapes that the parts are supplied on are externally sourced). You'd have to have an entire workflow and QA setup to ensure that what you made met specifications, something that's really only economic if you're making parts in bulk. Ultimately its better to just identify critical parts that definitely need supply chain tracking and have at least two independent sources for everything else along with a half decent incoming inspection department to keep track of part quality.
The only way to do this
Is to send an order to its suppliers that they have to send an order to their suppliers, and so on down the chain. Once you hit some US company that supplies individual resistors that are buying those bulk from China they'll have to admit that or be subject to perjury charges if they sign a document saying their stuff is coming from the US when it isn't. Then as the little guys pass that information back up the chain eventually the Pentagon will know exactly how fucked they are if they think they could conduct a war where those overseas supply chains would be cut off.