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DOGE is sending 'shockwaves' through the Pentagon, ex-DOD insider says

anatta

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is that 10,000 per cable? sure looks like it. Im putting this here for all those who claim DOGE has given no accounting/examples of wasteful spending
$10,000 would but some serious hi tech equipment - not a cable

Elon Musk's DOGE is sending 'shockwaves' through the Pentagon, ex-DOD insider says

Allen Control Systems CEO Steve Simoni said DOGE's impending DoD audit will uncover "all kinds of wasteful spending" amid the Pentagon's need to modernize to keep pace with China.
www.foxbusiness.com
It's actually sending shockwaves through the department right now," the Allen Control Systems CEO told FOX Business.

"When I was at the Department of Defense, we were spending $10,000 on HDMI cables that were ‘ruggedized’ when we could have purchased them for $20 or $30 at Best Buy… We need to get more efficient with our spending, because there's a massive threat of drones that are proliferating on the battlefield right now, and the new administration, Secretary [Pete] Hegeth knows this."
 
Yeah, I definitely would rather have my military communications built around commercially available cheap cables that are no in any way protected from tapping and that will break the first time even a tiny piece of shrapnel touches them than purpose built cables designed for battlefield conditions and with protections against eavesdropping built in.

It’s like the people who used to bitch about the cost of ashtrays in the military not realizing they were designed so if they broke, they would turn into blunt lumps instead of shattering into lethal slivers. You know not something that would ever happen in the military right? They don’t deal with explosions all the time or anything.
 
Mil spec equipment is more expensive than consumer versions. The same for airplane spec equipment. A friend of mine who has a small plane said that a gas cap cost him a small fortune.

The thing about military equipment is that it is designed not to fail in combat. An ordinary HDMI cable might fail ( I’ve had some that failed) with disastrous results.

Regarding DOGIE, is that overpriced cables aren’t what the government mainly spends money on. This is a rounding error on a rounding error. Although DOGIE claims they found $55 billion in waste the numbers are widely disputed.

What DOGE did do last week was present a list of claimed savings from canceled contracts. The total savings claimed didn’t come anywhere near $55 billion, but never mind. Several news organizations, including Bloomberg, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal have gone through that DOGE list, and found that it’s a steaming pile of, um, DOGEshit.
 
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If we're using HDMI in combat situations then there is a more fundamental problem. HDMI is not a fault tolerant protocol, the connectors are not sealed in the slightest, and nothing about it is "rugged". My guess is that said cables bear very little resemblance to the Best Buy HDMI cable - simply sealing and locking the connector would require an entirely new design.
 
Can we agree that PERHAPS the rightful price of a more "rugged" military spec cable might be somewhere between $20 and $10,000?

Maybe not $20, but certainly less than $10,000?
 
All true. What can also be true is that we are overpaying even for those specifications.
 
SuperDS77 said:
Can we agree that PERHAPS the rightful price of a more "rugged" military spec cable might be somewhere between $20 and $10,000?

Maybe not $20, but certainly less than $10,000?
Click to expand...

Based on what expertise? How much experience in material design in communications engineering do you have?
 
Mil-spec has a bunch of additional requirements but that doesn't mean your off-the-self cable can't meet them. The key is someone took the time and effort to test and verify them and those people need to be compensated for that.
 
“Why is the Army spending $20,000 per radio? I can go to Walmart and get a radio for $50. Why can’t the Army? Just ignore the fact that my Walmart radio won’t have cryptographic circuits, or frequency hopping, or ECCM hardening against jamming, or…”
 
Questerr said:
Based on what expertise?
Click to expand...
Common sense.
Questerr said:
How much experience in material design in communications engineering do you have?
Click to expand...
Only in the use and purchase of these types of material.

Are you seriously trying to argue that there is not a great deal of overcharging in military purchases?
 
shielded HDMI cables 50 feet are $75 dollars . for battle you might need more durability, but not just for computer links

 
SuperDS77 said:
Common sense.

Only in the use and purchase of these types of material.

Are you seriously trying to argue that there is not a great deal of overcharging in military purchases?
Click to expand...

Common sense would say that the Army doesn’t need to spend $20,000 per radio.

Common sense is wrong because your average person has no ****ing clue how expensive producing a radio built for battlefield conditions is.
 
anatta said:
shielded HDMI cables 50 feet are $75 dollars . for battle you might need more durability, but not just for computer links

Click to expand...

And those cables can handle life on a battlefield with shrapnel raining down? They are shielded against the collection technology used by government scale intelligence agencies?
 
Questerr said:
And those cables can handle life on a battlefield with shrapnel raining down? They are shielded against the collection technology used by government scale intelligence agencies?
Click to expand...
@anatta just found some rando cable on the internet and thought he was DOGE caliber material due to the power of Google or something. Anyone who has worked with HDMI knows how stupid the connector is. Both ends of the mating junction are easily damaged, and there is no sealing or locking mechanism at all. Forget shrapnel, even moisture will take out the @anatta recommended cable.
 
It's true - Mil spec anything is far more expensive than consumer versions. That said, it's not at all necessarily true that mil spec means longer lasting or better performing.

Some of the mil spec pricing is justified because of the more stringent regulations and testing put on them. However, there's also a huge factor to consider w/r to over-billing and just plain general fraud in the system.

I was RPPO for my division on my boat. We kept burning rectifier diodes on a 400hz MG set, which I replaced at a cost of roughly $50 apiece (and this was ~50 years ago). We replaced so many that eventually the local supply ran out and I had to find a different source asap. So I cross-referenced the Mil-Spec and found a package of 4 at Radio Shack for a whopping $10. In the following 3 & a half years I was aboard, I never had to purchase another diode.
 
anatta said:
It's actually sending shockwaves through the department right now," the Allen Control Systems CEO told FOX Business.
Click to expand...
Where is the "right now" part.....in the OP
 
NatMorton said:
This is so healthy.
Click to expand...
Imagine how much more healthy it would be if you showed your patriotism by becoming a member of DOGE today?

Trump is selling 'official' DOGE membership in exchange for donations

For a minimum of $47, supporters can get their very own Trump DOGE card.
www.businessinsider.com

Remember, owning the neo-leftists isn't free. Donald and Elon need you to do your part. A mere $47 investment by you will show Elon that you are committed to his vision of America.
 
Cables aren’t what the government mainly spends money on. This is a rounding error on a rounding error.

Remember, the federal government is basically an insurance company with an army: defense, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid account for the bulk of noninterest spending, not HDMI cables.
 
SuperDS77 said:
Common sense.

Only in the use and purchase of these types of material.

Are you seriously trying to argue that there is not a great deal of overcharging in military purchases?
Click to expand...
Ask our soldiers who use this equipment in the field.

My in laws and family who were in Iraq and Afghanistan and had to deal with subpar equipment and made in field alterations. The Pentagon learned and opted Tom spend more on our soldiers with proper training and equipment.

Don’t get me wrong: fight fraud and waste! But not at the expense of our soldiers. And if DOGE tries to keep our military on the cheap…younwont have many volunteers in the future to fight for you. Speaking of which…

DOGE is hurting veterans who are family and friends. Many of lost jobs as a result of DOGE or are about to.

if DOGE keeps this up…screwing over veterans and firing officers…as I’ve said before…that’s how military coups start.
 
Questerr said:
And those cables can handle life on a battlefield with shrapnel raining down? They are shielded against the collection technology used by government scale intelligence agencies?
Click to expand...
I said battlefield you need something more durable. You can put any shielding you want in there. It's not going to cost 10k
~~
The bigger picture:

Take 7: The Pentagon Fails Another Audit

With big publicity around efforts to cut government spending, we’ll find out whether the incoming administration and Congress are willing to hold the Pentagon accountable.
www.nationalpriorities.org
Since the Pentagon is so bad at counting, we wanted to help with a few stats on how they did:



What happens if the Pentagon just keeps failing? Nothing, so far.
 
While not relevant to the particular cable being discussed, the DoD overpays - and dictates that contractors do as well - for many off-the-shelf products. I first encountered this back in the early 1980s when the engineering team of which I was a member requested some calculators. The boss asked how many we needed and a rough cost. There were 5 team members and nearby department store sold them for $x, so we asked for 5 times $x. The request was approved, but the procurement folks said they could only purchase 3 calculators for the budgeted amount, since we were forced to buy them from a disadvantaged small business (basically Black, woman, or vet owned), who, not surprisingly, gouged us on everything. I saw the same thing play out over and ever during my career, right up until I retired a few months ago. Furthermore, DoD contractors are subject to a ridiculous amount of government oversight, which requires a marching army of compliance folks - the cost of which is folded into the selling price of each procured item. Is there waste in the Pentagon (and their contractors)? Yes, without a doubt, but a good bit of that waste is driven by well-intentioned do-gooder rules and regulations.
 
DOGE, lol. What a joke.

 
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