The Pentagon spent more than $2.7bn on "miscellaneous items" in 2008 for which the contractor was listed as "not available"--a rare omission for Defense Department documentation--according to an Aerospace DAILY analysis of an independent national database of government contracting data.
The "miscellaneous items" expenditure listing appears to be a catch-all category for Pentagon transactions, according to interviews with defense analysts and a review of Defense Department contracting data provided by the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting.
In many cases the transactions also fail to clearly show what the money was spent on. However, defense analysts say the transactions appear to be classified or related to intelligence operations, and the proper congressional overseers have received the names of the contractors and information on the work done.
Altogether, Pentagon miscellaneous-item expenses tallied about $7 billion in 2008, making that the eighth-highest Defense Departure expenditure item for the year, the Aerospace DAILY analysis showed. This marks the first time that "miscellaneous items" has cracked the list of top 20 Pentagon expenses this decade.
Source: Aviation Week