By Niamh Harris – The People’s Voice
According to a Pentagon watchdog, over $1Billion in military aid for Ukraine was improperly tracked and is now unaccounted for.
An internal audit released on Jan. 10 by the DOD Inspector General says that the Department of Defense has failed to properly track $1 billion worth of weapons provided to Ukraine
The DOD are supposed to use special “enhanced end-use monitoring” techniques” to “safeguard” key weapons such as smaller, high-tech weaponry provided to Ukraine, which are likely targets for theft.
The report fuels concerns about possible diversion of some military aid away from Kiev.
Infowars reports: The audit says these monitoring procedures are not properly being followed in Ukraine, due to staffing shortages, poor internal logistics and more.
The audit found that $1 billion of the $1.7 billion — or 59% — in enhanced end-use monitoring designated weapons provided to Ukraine as of June 2023 are “delinquent,” meaning they can’t be accounted for in inventory reports.
Maybe the weapons are being used properly; maybe they have been stolen by Russian forces. No one can be completely sure.
The 59% delinquency rate is an improvement over the 86% of weapons that were unaccounted for in December 2022.
The report fuels concerns about possible diversion of some military aid away from Kiev.
Infowars reports: The audit says these monitoring procedures are not properly being followed in Ukraine, due to staffing shortages, poor internal logistics and more.
The audit found that $1 billion of the $1.7 billion — or 59% — in enhanced end-use monitoring designated weapons provided to Ukraine as of June 2023 are “delinquent,” meaning they can’t be accounted for in inventory reports.
Maybe the weapons are being used properly; maybe they have been stolen by Russian forces. No one can be completely sure.
The 59% delinquency rate is an improvement over the 86% of weapons that were unaccounted for in December 2022.
The weapons include night-vision devices, anti-tank missiles, attack drones and small-diameter bombs.
The report also found that inventory databases were not regularly updated and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces failed to properly report missing weapons.
Officials have stressed that the weapons may in fact be completely fine. Just because the DOD failed to keep track of the weaponry does not necessarily mean it was stolen.
The Army, Air Force and more agreed that procedures would be fully updated by September 2024.
Background: The Biden administration has sent over $75 billion to Ukraine since February 2022, including $44 billion in military aid.
Some Republican leaders are already trying to block Biden’s request for additional funds for Ukraine. The missing weapons could strengthen their arguments.
This is not the first time weapons have gone missing during Biden’s administration. In Afghanistan in 2021, the Taliban seized seven U.S. helicopters, each worth as much as $21 million. The DOD also lost track of $174 million of drones provided to Afghanistan.
Biden officials then removed official reports on Afghanistan weaponry spending from government websites.
The DOD has a long history of inadequately tracking its finances, having failed its last six annual audits.