Despite calls for a leaner and more efficient national defense, Pentagon bureaucrats, military contractors and pork barrel politicians have wasted $61 billion that should have been used for national defense, according to a new study on military spending.

The report, entitled More Pentagon Follies, was released by Taxpayers for Common Sense and the arms control organization Council for a Livable World in conjunction with Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Congressman Peter DeFazio (D-OR). The report details new sources of waste that have been uncovered since the first edition of the report came out in 1996.

Nineteen military spending scandals are spotlighted including perks for the military brass, missing money, management mishaps and inventory overstocks. Highlighted is a “Hall of Shame” of particularly outrageous items:

Pentagon’s Psychic Friends — For twenty years, the Pentagon has maintained a top-secret team of U.S.-based psychics specializing in global “remote viewing”. Cost: $20 million.

New Facilities at Closing Bases — The Department of Defense has spent $263 million on new construction projects on closed or soon-to-be-closed bases. With a new $5 million chapel at San Diego’s Naval Training Center, it seems the Navy is praying the facility will manage to stay open.

Gomer’s Pile – Inventory Overstocks — DOD has purchased $41 billion worth of unneeded supplies, like a 159-year supply of camouflage screen systems scheduled for replacement in 2003.

$544 Spark Plug Connector — Reliving the glory days of the $435 hammer and the $640 toilet seat, Navy officials recently paid $544 for a spark plug connector, a part that we purchased at an autoparts store for $14.

Every item in the report is documented through audits by the U.S. General Accounting Office and the DOD Inspector General or by media investigations.

TCS on NBC Nightly News

Ralph DeGennaro, Executive Director of Taxpayers for Common Sense, lambasted an Army Corps of Engineers project last Thursday, July 30 on NBC Nightly News’ “Fleecing of America.” Optima Lake in Oklahoma is a $50 million failed flood control project that does little but waste money.