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GAO: Foreign military sales program still flawed

Defense, State and Homeland Security departments need better cooperation, report says.

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer 6:24 PM Saturday, June 27, 2009

In March 2008, the Department of Defense disclosed that it mistakenly transferred intercontinental ballistic missile parts to Taiwan through a U.S. program that sells pre-approved defense articles and services to foreign governments.

In a new report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office says the departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security still haven’t corrected weaknesses that the GAO identified — as early as 2003 — in the government’s monitoring of articles shipped through the foreign military sales (FMS) program.

The GAO, an investigative arm of Congress, told Congress in a report released last week that the inadvertent shipment of the missile parts to Taiwan raised “questions about whether previously identified weaknesses have been resolved.”

The FMS program remains an integral part of U.S. national security and foreign policy, the GAO said. The program, in which the Air Force, Army and Navy participate, sold more than $36 billion in defense equipment and services to foreign governments during fiscal 2008, a 56 percent increase from fiscal 2007.

Poor communication among federal agencies is a chronic problem, so the GAO’s conclusions were not surprising, said Dick Reynolds, a retired Air Force lieutenant general who was vice commander of the Air Force Materiel Command.

“We’ve got a lot of government agencies that are supposed to work together, and a lot of times, they don’t,” Reynolds said.

The Air Force has bigger concerns, including its need for a new aerial refueling tanker aircraft, new search and rescue helicopters, and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Reynolds said.

The Air Force Security Assistance Center, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, manages the Air Force’s portion of the program. The unit at Wright-Patterson arranges sales of U.S. warplanes, weapons and spare parts to American allies and works with 90 countries and nine NATO entities.

According to the GAO, the State Department hasn’t finalized its regulations to establish the Defense Department’s duties in verifying whether the correct items are being shipped to foreign countries. Federal port customs officials lack information needed to verify that FMS shipments are properly authorized, and the Defense Department lacks data needed to effectively administer and oversee the program, the GAO said.

The State, Defense and Homeland Security departments told the GAO they will work to improve coordination.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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