(José Niño, Headline USA) Republican lawmakers are seeking a deeper investigation into fraudulent Pentagon expenditures after the Department of Defense Inspector General released a report in January, finding that officials have failed to properly monitor and review thousands of high-risk transactions made with government-issued travel cards.
💸😡 The DOD IG found nearly 8,000 HIGH-RISK transactions on government-issued credit cards. We are calling on GAO to provide a full audit of high-risk transactions, including:
• Adult entertainment
• Online dating
• Gambling
• Weed
• Pyramid schemes
• Massage parlors
•…— Oversight Committee (@GOPoversight) May 19, 2025
The audit revealed that nearly 8,000 transactions, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars, were made at “known high-risk merchants,” including casino ATMs and mobile app stores.
Furthermore, over 3,200 purchases were made at bars, nightclubs, and similar establishments, often coinciding with holidays and major sporting events.
The report criticized the Defense Travel Management Office (DTMO) for not effectively using the Visa IntelliLink Compliance Management (VICM) system, a tool designed to flag suspicious activity.
Oversight failures meant that many questionable transactions went unreviewed, and the system’s rules had not been updated to reflect new threats or merchant types since 2018.
In one striking example, an Air Force cardholder was found to have withdrawn over $10,000 at Maryland casinos using a government travel card—a pattern of behavior that had gone undetected until the audit.
The Pentagon’s lapses are not isolated. A letter sent on May 16, 2025, by House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-KY, and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-IA, to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) underscores the scale of the problem.
The lawmakers alluded to a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) review showing the federal government holds about 4.6 million active charge cards, with $40 billion in spending last fiscal year.
Comer and Ernst’s letter calls for a government-wide audit of all federal charge card programs, not just at the Pentagon. They specifically request a probe of spending at high-risk merchants, including adult entertainment, gambling, online dating, marijuana dispensaries, massage parlors, and timeshare promotions.
The letter notes that agencies have consistently failed to use modern data analysis tools to prevent fraud and waste, despite longstanding recommendations from the Office of Management and Budget.
The investigation has triggered bipartisan concerns about lax controls and the risk of abuse across federal agencies.
“It is indefensible for Department of Defense bureaucrats to waste tax dollars at clubs, casinos, and bars, racking up charges on Super Bowl Sunday, St. Patrick’s Day, Cinco de Mayo, and federal holidays,” Sen. Ernst said to Fox News, adding, ““With Washington $36 trillion in debt, the last thing we need is bureaucrats maxing out their tab and sticking taxpayers with the bill.”
Lawmakers are pressing for answers on how employees are selected to receive government cards, whether agencies are closing accounts when staff leave, and if there are adequate systems in place to detect and confront misuse.
The nation now waits to see if new safeguards will finally curb government credit card abuse.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
