Controls Over Ammunition and Explosives
Abstract
The Secretary of the Army was assigned the Single Manager for Conventional Ammunition (SMCA) mission within the Department of Defense with the power to redelegate, within the Army, the necessary authorities to perform the SMCA mission. Under the authority of the Secretary of the Army's Charter for SMCA, the Commanding General, Army Materiel Command (ANC) was delegated authority to execute the SMCA operations. The Commanding General in turn designated the Armament, Munitions and Chemical Command (AMCCOM), a component of AMC, as the principal field operating organization of SMCA. As of April 1990, SMCA managed 1,941 line items with an estimated value of $17.2 billion. The objectives of the audit were to: (1) evaluate internal controls regarding accountability, storage, and physical security for Category I and Category II (highly sensitive) conventional ammunition and explosives managed by AMC and (2) follow up on prior audit reports covering SMCA operations and wholesale inventories of ammunition and explosives. AMC did not effectively account for all sensitive ammunition and explosives. Although we found no evidence of misappropriation of assets, we found insufficient controls that allowed sensitive items to be vulnerable to misappropriation. Also, we found that some security records had been falsified. (1) SMCA and storage activity records were not accurate. Accurate records are necessary to ensure that sensitive items have more precise accountability (Finding A). (2) Security patrols failed to effectively conduct and properly certify checks of storage magazines. If physical security is not effective, AMC cannot readily determine that a breach in security for sensitive items occurred (Finding B).
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 11, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA379003
Entities
Organizations
- Office of the Inspector General, U.S. Department of Defense