Yes this does make them look like jackas5es

Well, for the most part, I blame Congress. I always enjoyed reading the GAO audit reports; it was about the only thing I read during work time that wasn't exactly my job. GAO has been reporting duplication, fragmentation, etc. since the early 80s (probably way before that, but that's when I started reading the reports with interest). But everytime we (DoD) would attempt a Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) or other consolidation effort, the Senators from the losing states would step in and keep the facilities to be closed/negatively impacted open. And surprisingly, within a year or so, a "new mission" was found for the "closed" facility. Congress needs to get out of the way and let the consolidations, closing facilities, etc. happen. Now, within DoD, we did a Blue Ribbon Study in the late 80's. If implemented then, the Services (Air Force, Army, Navy and Marine Corps) wouldn't be planning and executing their own acquisitions/procurements and duplicating research, development, test and evaluation facilities/laboratories/etc. And here, I blame Congress and the "Service Leadership". The Services run rough shot all over DoD; basically, they do their own thing with little coordination amongst the Services. Just a few observations after 30 some years with the Department of Army (but in my job, I worked with all the Services and approved foreign governments (to include Egypt) and private industry (to include Chrysler). And yes, Senator Coburn had it right; both the House and Senate (especially those Senators/Congresspeople who've been serving us so well for decades) look like a bunch of jackasses.