Republicans on the House Oversight Committee are seeking answers from the Pentagon on the security of the military aid the United States has provided to Ukraine as lawmakers debate whether to approve new funds.
The lawmakers, along with Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), wrote to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, seeking additional information regarding the department’s ability to track the more than $44 billion of military aid provided to Ukraine since Russia invaded nearly two years ago.
“The Committee remains concerned about the Department of Defense’s (DoD) ability to conduct end-use monitoring of weapons, equipment, and other defense articles going to Ukraine,” the lawmakers wrote. “It is vital that DoD works to ensure weapons and other forms of security assistance are used for their intended purposes, that they do not fall into the hands of our enemies, and that the risk of waste, fraud, and abuse is mitigated.”
The lawmakers’ request for more information comes weeks after a DOD inspector general report found that while the department had improved its enhanced end-use monitoring, or EEUM, since the war began, it did not fully comply with the requirements.
“While there has been significant improvement in the delinquency rate for inventorying this sensitive equipment, persistent gaps as identified in our evaluation may correlate with an inability to maintain complete accountability for this critical U.S. security assistance,” Inspector General Robert Storch said. Storch added, “As our evaluation was focused on the DoD’s compliance with its EEUM requirements, it was beyond the scope of this project to determine whether there has been diversion of that assistance. The DoD OIG now has personnel stationed in country, and our Defense Criminal Investigative Service continues to investigate allegations of criminal conduct with regard to U.S. security assistance.”
They gave Austin until Feb. 20 to provide them with documents and information regarding any guidance and procedures presented to Ukraine’s military about how to conduct inventory and report losses, memorandums of understanding between the U.S. and Ukraine regarding assurances Kyiv officials provided to the U.S., any documents detailing any conditions put on U.S. military assistance given to them, all documents and communications between the Pentagon and State Department regarding relevant policies and procedures, and any documents and communications outlined to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency and the Office of Defense Cooperation-Ukraine.
The inspector general found that as of June 2, 2023, serial number inventories for more than $1.005 billion, 59%, of the total $1.699 billion of EEUM-designated defense articles were delinquent.
Storch, State Department Inspector General Diana Shaw, the deputy inspector general for the State Department, and U.S. Agency for International Development Inspector General Paul Martin are jointly overseeing U.S. aid to Ukraine, and they were in Ukraine late last month to meet with local officials.
President Joe Biden asked Congress to pass a national security-based supplemental bill months ago, but Republicans have refused, at first demanding the administration and Democrats make concessions on immigration policy to secure their support for the funding bill that included more than $60 billion to replace U.S. weapons given to Ukraine.
The debate on whether to continue aid to Ukraine remains open, as Congress has not passed the supplemental request despite concessions from the White House.
The Pentagon is no longer able to provide Ukraine military support because it has run out of allocated money to replace the weapons it provides to Ukraine.
“Now, I don’t have to tell you what’s at stake in Ukraine, but it’s worth restating: Its very existence as a democratic nation and a free people, and Ukraine’s fight for its sovereignty, sends a message to authoritarian regimes around the world that violating the international rules-based order comes at a high cost,” deputy Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters on Tuesday.
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“But faltering in America’s support for Ukraine would send a different message and a dangerous message,” she added. “If the U.S. stops support to Ukraine, we should be cleareyed about the repercussions. Putin is not going to stop in his quest for power and control beyond Ukraine’s borders toward NATO. If Putin attacks a NATO ally, we will find ourselves in direct conflict, as we are committed to defending every inch of NATO.”
Last month, Austin reiterated there was “no credible evidence of the misuse or illicit diversion of American equipment” provided to Ukraine.