The Pentagon has not thoroughly monitored the transfer of some of the U.S.’s most advanced weapons and devices sent to Ukraine, an Inspector General report released Thursday found.
Pentagon Inspector General Robert P. Storch determined that serial number inventories were “delinquent” for more than $1 billion worth, of 59%, of high-value, technically advanced weapons the Pentagon is required to track through their “end-use.”
The report did not examine whether any of the weapons may have been ‘diverted’ from their intended use, through theft, misuse or loss.
The report also highlighted the DOD’s challenges to maintaining transparency and accountability for U.S. weapon sales through bureaucratic record-keeping while in an active combat zone.
Along with the difficulties of keeping accurate records in an active war zone, the report notes the Ukrainian military’s high consumption rate made proper record keeping difficult, as did the fact that there was “no safe method” to do inventory on the front lines and it was only possible at logistics and storage depots.
One official from the Office of Defense Cooperation-Ukraine told Pentagon investigators that once the pieces of equipment arrive in Ukraine “they are often transferred to the front lines within days for use in active combat.”
Hellbound and Down 