The following exchange occurred on “Fox Morning News” Tuesday, April 2, between Ralph De Gennaro of Taxpayers for Common $ense and Daniel Goure of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. It was first printed in The Washington Post’s “For the Record” section on April 4.

Mr. De Gennaro — Our report [on defense spending] found that $29 billion of taxpayer money…was actually wasted on things we don’t need, on excessive prices for small items, and for perks for the contractors and the brass … [and] $15 billion … was simply lost in the Pentagon accounting system …

Lark McCarthy — Daniel Goure, your reaction … ?

Mr. Goure — Well, there is a need for reports that…look at how to make the Pentagon more efficient, but this doesn’t add to the debate. In fact…I think it unfairly slams the Pentagon. …The $15 billion that was allegedly wasted, it’s not clear that it was wasted. They can’t account for it. It may have been overpayments. In other cases, it’s a bookkeeping error. But it’s also over a decade …

Mr. De Gennaro– So, you’re telling me that…I’m paying taxes … so we gave $15 billion to the Pentagon, they can’t find out what happened to it … It could have been wasted, it could have gone here, it could have gone there, and that’s okay?

Mr. Goure — See? Now he’s gone from saying it was wasted to it may have been wasted. So already this is on very flimsy ground. It may have been wasted, it may not have been wasted. Accounting practices are a big problem in a big organization. I don’t excuse that. But that’s different than saying it was wasted … You’re talking about … 36 agencies … with difference accounting systems, different standards, over a decade…while they were … redesigning the computer systems in all of these places.

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO COMMON SENSE?