IRAQ: DOD Should Increase Visibility and Accountability Over Equipment Provided to Iraq's Security Forces
Abstract
I am pleased to be here to discuss our work regarding the Department of Defense (DOD)s efforts to maintain visibility and accountability overequipment funded by the Iraq Train and Equip Fund (ITEF). In 2013 and 2014, the self-declared Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) emerged as a major threat to Iraq and Syria and to U.S. interests in the region after seizing control of large areas of territory in both countries. In 2014,Congress authorized the creation of ITEF to provide equipment and other assistance to Iraqs security forces, including the Kurdish and tribalsecurity forces, to counter-ISISs expansion.1 As of December 2016, DOD had disbursed about $2 billion of the $2.3 billion Congress appropriated for ITEF in fiscal years 2015 and 2016 to purchase personal protective and communications equipment, weapons, and vehicles for these forces.2 My testimony summarizes our May 2017 report on DODs efforts to maintain visibility and accountability over equipment funded by ITEF.3 To provide U.S. government personnel and others with access to information on the status of DOD-purchased equipment for Iraq and other foreign governments, DOD maintains a web-based Security Cooperation Information Portal (SCIP). In this report, we examined the extent to which DOD maintains visibility and accountability over ITEF-funded equipment from acquisition through transfer to the government of Iraq or the Kurdistan Regional Government. To do so, we analyzed DOD guidance, procedures, SCIP data, and transfer documentation and interviewed officials from DOD agencies with a role in the ITEF equipping process in the United States, Kuwait, and Iraq. All of our work was performed in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jul 25, 2017
- Accession Number
- AD1166577
Entities
People
- Ashley Alley
- B. P. Hickey
- Jeff Isaacs
- Jessica Farb
- Judith Mccloskey
- Kira Self
- Lynn Cothern
- Martin de Alteriis
- Neil Doherty
Organizations
- United States Government Accountability Office