Dov S. Zakheim (USD Comptroller, 2001-2004)
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The Pentagon's money man from May 2001 came straight from a defence firm that builds systems for flying aircraft by remote control.
Who they are
Dov Zakheim, the Pentagon's Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and chief financial officer from 2001 to 2004[1].[2]
What they do
The engine reads the seat, not the man: this is the office that signs off on how the Defense Department's money is counted.
How it works
The law that creates the job gives it the power to supervise the preparation of the entire defence budget, to set the rules for how property and costs are accounted for, and to control how money is spent and collected. He was in the chair when the Pentagon's accounting was at its least auditable, and he testified alongside Rumsfeld that June. Before government he ran the international arm of System Planning Corporation, a Virginia firm whose business includes remote flight control and flight termination for military test ranges.
Why it matters
One thing needs saying plainly, because it is usually left out. The famous date - sworn in on 4 May 2001 - and the account of his company background appear in no Senate record at all. We read all 2.37 million characters of the hearing that is usually cited for it. Zero mentions. Both trace instead to a 9/11 chronology website quoting what looks like an old Pentagon biography. The facts may well be right. The source is not the one people say it is.
The engine's record — word for word
Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and DoD Chief Financial Officer. The office is confirmed in the congressional record: the Senate Armed Services Committee FY2002 authorization hearing of 28 June 2001 lists "Rumsfeld, Hon. Donald H., Secretary of Defense; Accompanied by Dr. Dov S. Zakheim, Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller)". THE SEAT'S POWERS ARE STATUTORY, NOT PERSONAL — 10 U.S.C. 135, verbatim: the Under Secretary "is the agency Chief Financial Officer of the Department of Defense for the purposes of chapter 9 of title 31", and shall "advise and assist" the Secretary "in supervising and directing the preparation of budget estimates", in "fiscal, cost, operating, and capital property accounting", and in "the expenditure and collection of funds administered by the Department of Defense". SOURCING LIMIT, STATED BECAUSE IT MATTERS: the 4 May 2001 swearing-in date and the System Planning Corporation biography appear in NO Senate record — a full read of the 2.37 million characters of the hearing returns zero hits for 'May 4, 2001' and zero for 'System Planning'. Both trace instead to a 9/11-chronology page quoting what reads as a DoD biography: "Dov S. Zakheim was sworn in as the Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and Chief Financial Officer for the Department of Defense on May 4, 2001... he was corporate vice president of System Planning Corp... He also served as chief executive officer of SPC International Corp." The fact is sourced; the tier is not the congressional record. Held on that footing. Left office April 2004.
Follow the trail
ceo_of
System Planning Corporation (SPC)CEO of subsidiary SPC International before taking the Comptroller seat. Tenure dates rest on a single AI-generated encyclopedia entry, not on a Senate or DoD re
executive-node-of
Donald Rumsfeld (1932-2021)Under Secretary of Defense (Comptroller) and DoD Chief Financial Officer; testified with Rumsfeld before Senate Armed Services, 28 June 2001.
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