Pentagon spent $5 billion hours before government shutdown

Just a few hours before the partial US government shutdown, the Pentagon managed to deposit about $5 billion in cash into various military contractors' accounts to make purchases before expenditures were cut off.

While expenditures are often made at the end of the month to spend cash that might otherwise not be available next month, the Pentagon expenditures appear to go beyond this accounting technique.

At the last minute, the Pentagon managed to pay for robot submarines, cameras, Reaper drones, a television studio, and even $19 million for cots.

Read more