DoD to boost personnel in weapons sales office - Army News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Army Times

DoD to boost personnel in weapons sales office

WASHINGTON — The Defense Department is reinforcing a badly understaffed office in Baghdad to speed the flow of war-fighting gear to Iraqi forces and to make sure the weapons do not end up in the hands of insurgents or on the black market.

The nearly 1,000 percent increase in staff — from six people to almost 70 — includes a two-star general, who arrived in Iraq two weeks ago to manage the expanding team. Army Reserve Maj. Gen. George Smith replaces a colonel, underscoring increased power expected for the office handling billions of dollars in arms sales.

The additional personnel are intended to untie the bureaucratic knots blocking aircraft, armored vehicles, radios and guns from getting into the hands of Iraqi police and military units assuming more control for the country’s security. For months, Iraqi officials have complained bitterly that the delays were forcing their troops to fight with inferior equipment.

As demands for more and better gear have increased, so too have concerns over who is winding up with the stocks. Corruption within Iraq’s government has been well-documented, and tens of thousands of U.S.-supplied weapons have gone missing with some of the firepower allegedly being used by terrorist groups.

The Pentagon’s inspector general, Claude Kicklighter, led an investigation to determine how pervasive the problem is and what steps need to be taken for tighter control over arms, ammunition and explosives. Kicklighter’s findings, which have been presented to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, are classified.

While the Iraqis will continue to receive weapons from a variety of sources, the goal is to emphasize the more regimented and transparent foreign military sales system the U.S. uses with other allies, Smith said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

“Over the long haul, as security develops here in Iraq, they’re going to be able to develop their economic power,” said Smith, who met with Kicklighter before leaving for Iraq. “I don’t know that we can afford to be supporting over a terribly long period everything that a nation needs to provide for its own national defense. So it’s entirely appropriate that they go in a direction of purchasing their own equipment.”

But pushing more weapons into a country with a government grappling for stability carries risks.

“For countries that are struggling with corruption, with internal violence, with threat of diversion or theft, is it the best policy to be funneling as many weapons to that country as possible?” said Rachel Stohl, a senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information in Washington. “Or are there other things the United States could be doing first to strengthen democracy rather than just fueling the cycle?”

Smith said part of his mandate is to monitor where the gear goes, especially for sensitive items such as night-vision goggles. Keeping tabs on equipment not purchased from U.S. manufacturers is much more challenging.

“As this office continues to grow in staff, we’ll be able to execute a greater and more robust end-use monitoring program,” said Smith.

The security assistance office is part of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq, which is headed by Army Lt. Gen. James Dubik and oversees the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces.

Through the foreign military sales approach, the Iraqis use their money to place orders, and Smith’s office acts as the middleman by steering the requests through the complex contracting cycle. While the Iraqis often want equipment made by U.S. defense contractors, that is not always the case. Since arriving, Smith said his office has finalized a deal for Russian-made helicopters to be used by Iraq’s air force.

The more formal approach contrasts with a U.S.-funded account that has distributed billions of dollars in arms and support equipment to the Iraqis since 2003. U.S. military officials have not kept good records, however, as they hurried to overhaul Iraq’s army and police force. About 190,000 assault rifles and pistols weren’t fully accounted for, according to one audit completed in July. Another investigation released late last month found the sloppy recordkeeping persists and that U.S. commanders can’t be sure of where all the gear paid for with American dollars is going.

In once case, Turkish officials complained to U.S. authorities that guns the Turks had seized from the PKK, a Kurdish militant group, had markings matching those intended for Iraqi forces.

It will be early summer before his office is fully staffed, Smith said, although he will have close to two dozen people by the end of December.