$33 Million in Wasted Military Research Cited

Defense Department laboratories wasted more than $33 million in 1982 and 1983 by duplicating previously performed weapons research, Pentagon auditors have found.

Navy labs in Washington, San Diego and Newport, R. I., were found to have violated military regulations on 97% of the studies by failing to check previous research before awarding contracts.

The undersecretary of defense for research and engineering said in a Defense Department report dated last September that the Pentagon intended to tighten its literature search requirements.

The report was obtained by United Press International last week and released Sunday.

Regulations Delayed

However, Undersecretary James Wade now does not expect to impose new restrictions until July, Pentagon spokesman Jim Turner said.

The report by the Pentagon inspector general’s office found also that the labs were wasting millions of dollars by failing to justify the military value of their weapons technology research.

The Pentagon subsequently found no use for about 13% of the findings from research lacking written justification, the auditors reported.

The inspector general criticized the Defense Department for inadequately monitoring weapons technology research.

Laboratory staff members said that the auditors often found no evidence of literature searches either because the labs had failed to keep review documentation or lab researchers conducted no reviews because they already knew of previous studies.