European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 25, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                My monday june 25, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 3flying High at the air show a its Paris air show time at the Lebourget Airport. Above a boy touches a Small plane that a part of an exhibit of specially made aircraft at the site of the show near the French capital. At right a is it a plane or is it a car a a Pilot flies his ultralight aircraft during the show saturday. Profits from the annual event Are going to the humanitarian organization pilots without Borders a International Rescue organization. Law audit shows misuse of millions in mar funds by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington a morale welfare and recreation officials at various air Force bases misused millions of taxpayer dollars from 1987 to 1989 and hid their wrongdoing from Congress the Pentagon and even their own Headquarters according to an internal audit. A draft copy of the audit said control problems were evident in one or More Revenue generating mar activities at 27 of the 32 bases visited by investigators. The audit was launched in the Wake of an air Force investigation and subsequent congressional hearings last year on major funding abuses at the officers and no clubs at Ramstein a West Germany from 1983 to 1987, and also at a number of other bases. The goal of the new audit was to see if the previous problems were isolated incidents or part of a larger pattern of mismanagement. Judging by the Long list of examples contained in the 22-Page draft report the situation goes far beyond a handful of bases. The audit said air Force oversight was not adequate and Many base mar officials routinely flouted congressional directives As Well As their own service regulations. Many of the problems Are Well known and have been cited in previous reports. A 1984 investigation into similar misuse of appropriated funds for mar activities yielded much the same result and the new audit said the situation has a subsequently deteriorated since then. Auditors placed much of the blame for the funding mess on a Clear Lack of effective oversight and control by the air Force at its Headquarters level mar directorate at Randolph fab Texas. Financial management personnel at Randolph whose Job was to Check mar expenditures apparently could not visit individual bases without approval from major command and base officials. Such approval was a infrequently Given a the audit said. The few reviews that were done tended to focus on individual Field activities a at the expense of air Force wide systemic issues and then did not adequately address or distribute the compiled information a the audit said. A the control and oversight process is not working and needs  one of the most serious problems to surface at the local level was the mis classification of construction projects. Auditors found that minor construction projects for the renovation and alteration of 12 mar facilities were labelled As maintenance and repair and improperly financed with $9.5 million in appropriated funds. At nine of the facilities base officials made an apparently deliberate Effort to split the work into a number of Small projects to avoid going Over funding limits that would have forced them to seek approval from higher Headquarters. At one base a $70,000 officers club repair project evolved into eight separate a repair and alterations projects totalling $2 million a projects done without the required justifications approvals and congressional notifications the audit said. The report did not name the base. Air Force officials have shown a Lack of business sense in Many cases the audit said. For example the service could have saved As much As $8.6 million by building one open mess for Raf Lakenheath and Raf Mildenhall which Are Only a few Miles apart in England rather than building facilities at each base at a Cost of almost $ 17 million. In another instance officials at Yokota a Japan ignored a profit analysis of a proposed italian restaurant that said the business probably would lose $3,000 to $6,000 per month based Dod sees consolidation As answer to mar oversight by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington a lawmakers looking for ways to strengthen oversight of military morale welfare and recreation programs and prevent funding abuses have limited options. A there Are Only a few ways you can go a said a House staffer. A you can Cut programs which Only hurts serv ice members. You can slap on even More controls which Isnit realistic since the controls in place now done to seem to be having much effect. A for you can move control of the programs and the Money out from under base commanders to reduce the pressure of local command influence a he said. A a that a what you re probably going to see Down the  one Way to do that is to merge programs that exist in each service into single defense department entities. Consolidation has become a prime directive of Deputy defense Secretary Donald Atwood who is guiding the implementation of recommendations in the defense management review unveiled last july. That review Aims to streamline Pentagon operations and eliminate redundant functions wherever possible. Defense Secretary Dick Cheney already has Given a Green Light to consolidation of the three military commissary systems which will save an estimated $133 million a year and a study of an Exchange service merger is getting under Way. Even without the current drive toward consolidation misuse of appropriated funds for mar business activities will be largely curtailed anyway by a congressional order to halt almost All taxpayer support for those activities on oct. 1. Starting next fiscal year Revenue generating activities such As no and officers clubs Bowling alleys and Golf courses will be expected to support themselves financially or shut Down. For its part the air Force claims it was revising its approach to mar operations even while the most recent mar audit was being conducted. In a statement issued at the Pentagon Secretary of the air Force Donald Rice said he issued guidance earlier this month to expand and strengthen service level oversight of mar financial management. A your revamping of the mar system is not Only necessary it is overdue a he said. A action taken will ensure our mar activities arc operated properly and appropriately in the future with a More effective system for oversight of  on estimated customer volume. It was built anyway because of personal interest by the commanders of the local air Wing and the 5th air Force headquartered at Yokota. The restaurant lost $51,000 in fiscal 1989 and closed this past March. Auditors tabled As a questionable expenditures one Quarter of the Money spent on a $1 million Auto shop for Mildenhall and Lakenheath and two Bowling centers costing $4 million each at Misawa and Yokota air bases in Japan. Other projects on that list included a $240,000 Auto shop for Rhein main a West Germany and a $722, skeet Range at tinker fab okla