The US Department of Defense does not have clear guidance on how to properly track weapons deliveries to Ukraine, a government watchdog has found.
The US Government Accountability Office (GAO) claimed in a recent report that the current guidance being used by the Pentagon does not clearly define at what point in the delivery process weapons and equipment should be recorded as delivered.
This reportedly stems from the lack of clear instructions for how service branches should actually confirm delivery.
“As a result, DoD officials sometimes record defense articles as delivered while they are in transit, weeks before they arrive in Ukraine,” the report noted.
Additionally, the GAO said available data systems are not being utilized to accurately track the delivery of some equipment.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Washington has delivered more than $44 billion in military aid to Kyiv.
End-Use Monitoring
The GAO acknowledged that weapons deliveries to the war-ravaged nation are being carried out rapidly, sometimes only taking days for deliveries that typically need weeks to complete.
This has raised many calls for accuracy and greater efforts to ensure accountability for all the weapons and equipment sent.
Apart from the lack of clear guidance, the watchdog flagged the Pentagon for not properly monitoring equipment losses or misuse.
“For instance, DoD has been unable to directly observe some sensitive defense articles and has allowed Ukrainian officials to self-report the status of such articles,” it reported.
Recommendations
The GAO laid out eight recommendations to ensure that US weapons sent to Ukraine are properly tracked and used correctly.
It said the department should improve the accuracy of delivery data and evaluate its end-use monitoring approach in Ukraine.
The watchdog also suggested coming up with a written, detailed guidance that would define roles and responsibilities.
The DoD agreed with five of the recommendations and partially agreed with two others. However, it disagreed with the agency’s recommendation that it should clarify guidance for documenting alleged end-use violations.
