The IG found that U.S. Central Command and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency didn’t properly oversee some of the most sensitive technologies loaned to Israel to help it eradicate Hamas rule in Gaza and return hostages.
“Without effective accountability, these (sensitive) defense articles could be acquired by adversaries in the region,” the audit said. “Adversaries who obtain (the) defense articles would have firsthand access and knowledge of sensitive U.S. weapon systems technology, decreasing the technological advantage in the battlefield and increasing the risk to the United States, partner nations, and allies.”
The report didn’t specify what kinds of munitions or weapons were involved, only that they qualified for “enhanced end-use monitoring,” or EEUM, under federal law.
The designation is typically used for articles that use sensitive technologies and are vulnerable to misuse. Federal law lays out detailed inspection and reporting processes for tracking EEUM articles.
The Office of Defense Cooperation-Israel, which is overseen by both CENTCOM and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, is tasked with conducting annual checks on the articles, including serial number inventories and physical security inspections.
But the audit found that as of November 2024, only 44% of articles that were available for inspection had up-to-date reviews, a significant drop from the 69% before the war began.
The remaining 56% were more than 30 days past due for a review, according to the audit.
The office also hadn’t been accurately tracking articles that had been deployed or expended by Israel, the audit said.
Federal law requires monitors to keep track of the current positions of defense articles that aren’t available for inventory, including obtaining official documentation explaining where they’re located and why they were not available for inspection.
The office in Israel said it couldn’t conduct checks in a timely manner or update the disposition statuses because of changes in the operational environment, according to the audit.
The conflict, combined with staffing shortages, made it difficult to conduct checks and obtain documentation on the status of the materials, according to the audit.
Additionally, neither CENTCOM nor the Defense Security Cooperation Agency conducted inspections or assessments of the Office of Defense Coordination-Israel that could have identified challenges in tracking the military equipment, the IG said.
U.S. forces experienced a similar problem during the Iraq War, when the Pentagon found it difficult to conduct inspections between 2017 and 2023 due to the hostile environment.
At that time, the IG suggested guidance for conducting virtual command inspections when on-the-ground inspections are too dangerous.
The U.S. has also faced similar constraints in monitoring the hundreds of millions of dollars worth of defense gear to Ukraine.
The audit released last week made four recommendations for tracking military articles in Israel, one of which was completely redacted from the public version of the report.
Of the remaining three, one was resolved and closed after officials took corrective action to update the disposition statuses of the deployed defense articles.
CENTCOM agreed to follow the suggestion to conduct an inspection or a remote inspection of the Office of Defense Coordination-Israel in the next fiscal year, and the Defense Security Cooperation Agency agreed it will conduct either a compliance visit or virtual compliance assessment in 2026.
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