WASHINGTON – Maine Sen. Susan Collins is suggesting that the Defense Department’s contract audit agency be made a separate entity that would be free of Pentagon control.

Collins’ comments came after whistle-blowers at the Defense Contract Audit Agency told lawmakers about being pressured to revise their findings in favor of some of the nation’s largest defense contractors.

One auditor told the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee of a case in which the agency helped Boeing recover $270 million in losses for its failed commercial satellite business by approving flawed accounting methods.

Collins said that thorough, accurate and tough audits are essential, and the agency’s work must be untainted by pressure or conflicts of interest.