McCaskill, Webb: Administration's Inability to Track $1.2B War Contract Underscores Need for Contracting Commission

Article continues below...

As President Requests Additional $46B for Iraq War, Senators Demand Greater Accountability for Taxpayer Dollars

October 23, 2007 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. State Department’s inability to account for $1.2 billion in funding awarded to DynCorp International to train Iraqi police underscores the need for an independent commission to oversee and investigate wartime contracting, said Senators Claire McCaskill (D-MO) and Jim Webb (D-VA) today.

The 20-page audit issued by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) today, which highlights the failure of the State Department to identify how the awarded dollars have been spent, comes on the heels of an additional $46 billion request from President Bush to fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The President has requested nearly $200 billion in war funding during 2007 alone.

Spurred by similar stories of waste, fraud and abuse in war contracting, the Senate unanimously passed an amendment by Webb, McCaskill and 30 co-sponsors to the National Defense Authorization Bill to create an independent, bipartisan Commission on Wartime Contracting. The amendment also expands the role of SIGIR to conduct audits of wartime support contracts for logistics and security functions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Wartime contracting has become wasteful government spending on steroids, and unfortunately, the recent news that the State Department can’t account for $1.2 billion in American tax dollars is not encouraging. In the 1940s, Harry Truman tackled the problem by creating a committee to examine the issue. Today, the answer lies in establishing a bipartisan commission and expanding the role of SIGIR, which has proven its effectiveness in investigating waste and fraud in wartime contracting,” said Senator McCaskill.

Senators Webb and McCaskill, along with the other freshmen Democrats, sent a letter this month to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House and Senate Committees on Armed Services, urging that their war contracting measure be maintained during upcoming conference negotiations on the Fiscal Year 2008 National Defense Authorization.

“The Commission will study and investigate the effect of the federal government’s growing reliance on civilian contractors to perform wartime functions. This urgently needed legislation would significantly increase transparency and accountability and generate important recommendations for systematic contracting problems, with the potential for saving taxpayers billions of dollars,” the letter from Webb and McCaskill reads.

The letter points to additional problems in wartime contacting, including lack of oversight over private security contractors—a measure underscored this fall when a private security contractor opened fire on Iraqi citizens.

“Current events underscore the importance of this legislation. The recent shooting that left at least 11 Iraqi civilians dead at the hands of a well-known private security contractor demonstrates the need to examine more closely the role that such companies are playing in U.S. military and reconstruction operations. The disclosure by the Department of Defense, before the House Committee on Armed Services, that contracts and programs valued at $88 billion are being audited for financial irregularities reveals the potential magnitude of contracting mismanagement and abuse,” the letter states.

Source: Senator Claire McCaskill