Out from GAO today, here’s the punch line from the report:

We identified 1,340 potential, separate initiatives that DOD funded from fiscal year 2008 through the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 that, in DOD officials’ opinion, met the above definition for C-IED initiatives. We relied on our survey, in part, to determine this number because DOD has not determined, and does not have a ready means for determining, the universe of C-IED initiatives.

If you don’t even know how many programs you’re funding, you have no way of knowing which ones are working and which ones aren’t. And this is life-and-death stuff, costing taxpayers to date in excess of $18 billion, and God knows how many lives that should’ve been saved or injuries that should’ve been prevented.