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Bloomberg
As the Pentagon rushes to replenish billions of dollars in weapons sent to Ukraine, its inspector general says he’s on high alert for signs of fraud and abuse in the thousands of contracts being awarded.
“We have developed a universe of thousands of Ukraine-related contracts†that come in under $2 million each, Acting Inspector General Sean O’Donnell said in an interview. That’s more than 7,800 contracts valued at a combined $2.2 billion, O’Donnell added, even before an approaching deluge of bigger-ticket orders for advanced weapons such as the long-range HIMARS rocket systems prized by Ukrainian troops.
The inspector general’s oversight will focus on the $26.6 billion in supplemental spending for Ukraine approved by Congress since last year, which has supported a drawdown of weapon inventories.
Beyond reviewing the effectiveness of Pentagon accounting systems to record and track Ukraine-related spending, the inspector general’s office plans to probe US intelligence-sharing agreements with allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the effectiveness of training for Ukrainian forces and the potential for diversions of combat gear to the black market.
Nato officials “seem confident that the security was sufficient for the transfer of weapons†and “as far as we can tell, right now, everything that is supposed to shoot and go boom, they are using every bit of it,†O’Donnell said. But, he added, “this needs to be tested†through auditing.
A Pentagon official told reporters last week said the department has very detailed accountability measures to ensure that tracking begins as soon as the Pentagon is authorized to provide a capability. That tracking includes shipment from the US, across borders to Ukraine and then to military units. The tracking involves the Pentagon, the US European Command and a new Defense Attache Office in Kyiv, the official said.