Title: Oversight of Defense and Security Assistance to Ukraine Description: Congress has approved $113 billion dollars in aid for Ukraine. Today, GAO is issuing the first in a series of reports-requested by Congress-about the use and oversight of this assistance. Today's report specifically looks at defense and security assistance-worth about $42 billion dollars. GAO's Chelsa Kenney tells us more. Related work: GAO-24-106289, Ukraine: DOD Should Improve Data for Both Defense Article Delivery and End-Use Monitoring Released: March 2024 [Chelsa Kenney:] The U.S. has provided a significant amount of security assistance to Ukraine. And it's critical that DOD track and monitor this equipment. {Music} [Holly Hobbs:] Hi, and welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report-your source for fact-based, nonpartisan news and information from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. I'm your host, Holly Hobbs. The War in Ukraine has had devastating consequences, creating a humanitarian crisis, threatening democracy there, and exacerbating global challenges such as food insecurity. Congress has approved $113 billion dollars in aid for Ukraine. And today, GAO is issuing the first in a series of reports-requested by Congress-about the use and oversight of this assistance. Today's report specifically looks at defense and security assistance-worth about $42 billion dollars. Here to tell us more is GAO's Chelsa Kenney-an expert who led work for our new report. Thanks for joining us! [Chelsa Kenney:] Thanks for having me. [Holly Hobbs:] So, Chelsa, we've got several reports coming about the funding Congress approved for Ukraine. But today, we're just focused on our new report, the first report looking at the $42 billion in security assistance. What can you tell us about that funding? [Chelsa Kenney:] The U.S. is primarily used two authorities to provide defense articles to Ukraine. Things like military equipment and weapons, training, and other kinds of logistical support. First, we've used the Presidential Drawdown Authority. This is an authority that allows us to provide equipment in U.S. stocks to Ukraine, which allows us to provide equipment relatively quickly. The second authority is called the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This allows us to purchase equipment directly from the private sector or from foreign partners. This is often used for equipment that we don't currently have in stock or maybe for equipment or needs that are specific to Ukraine. And as a result, it may have a longer lead time before delivery. [Holly Hobbs:] And how is the U.S. tracking deliveries of these items to Ukraine? [Chelsa Kenney:] So DOD manages the delivery and tracking of all of this equipment through a couple of different data systems. However, we found some issues with the system being used to track the delivery of Presidential Drawdown Authority equipment. So in the case of the PDA equipment, we found that the official system often overstated or was inconsistent with other equipment delivery tracking efforts. Some of those efforts were designed to track high priority items. Some of those were to verify the actual manifest when equipment was arriving in country. And we found that the official system overstated the delivery. Now, one reason for that may be there were several different definitions of what delivered meant when they were updating the official PDA system. So, for example, one of the services considered the equipment to be delivered when it left U.S. stocks, when it left the U.S. facility. Another service considered it delivered when it went through that manifest verification process so right before it left at the European neighbor and crossed the border into Ukraine. [Holly Hobbs:] And what about that second assistance authority-the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. What did we learn about deliveries under that authority? [Chelsa Kenney:] So we also found for the USAI data that we were unable to determine the delivery status for a number 81 out of 116 USAI cases. We just weren't even able to determine the status. So these kinds of data issues limit our understanding of what's being provided and in what quantities. And this information is obviously important for assessing whether we're meeting the broader objectives in Ukraine. But it's also important for tracking to ensure that the equipment is not being diverted, and limits our ability to monitor this equipment in the future. [Holly Hobbs:] What happens when weapons or equipment are no longer in use at the end of the war. Do we want them back and are we tracking items to get them back? [Chelsa Kenney:] So U.S. agencies are required by law to provide reasonable assurance that the military equipment we provide to foreign partners is used for the purposes for which they are provided. So in practice, that means that there are U.S. requirements for continued end-use monitoring. For highly sensitive equipment, there is an initial inventory by serial number of every piece of equipment provided, an annual review of that equipment by serial number. And also their documentation of whether the equipment was expended, lost or destroyed. That's for the technologically sensitive equipment. The other less sensitive equipment that we provide to foreign partners is also subject to end-use monitoring. And this is a lower standard. It requires a quarterly review of at least some of the equipment that we provided to a foreign partner. While this equipment may be less sensitive, it could also still be lethal equipment. [Holly Hobbs:] We've been talking about tracking sort of like a UPS delivery or a USPS delivery. But this is happening in a war zone. Has DOD said that has been a challenge or mentioned any other challenges in its oversight efforts? [Chelsa Kenney:] The conflict environment definitely has created challenges for DOD to adhere to those end-use monitoring standards that I just spoke of. First, because of the security threat, there are very few U.S. officials in Ukraine to do that kind of monitoring. And even those officials that are there are limited from accessing sort of high-risk areas to do that. As a result, DOD has revised its requirements for tracking and monitoring the equipment. They are no longer doing the initial serial number inventory when sensitive equipment is provided to Ukraine. They are no longer doing the annual serial number check. And they are allowing Ukrainians to do some of the tracking and end-use monitoring and sharing and self-reporting that information to DOD. [Holly Hobbs:] We've got past work on Afghanistan and Iraq-about the assistance the U.S. provided there. And in some cases we found a lack of oversight in tracking defense or security related items. Are there any lessons we can learn from that assistance? [Chelsa Kenney:] We know from past conflicts that military equipment in the wrong hands can create and contribute to regional security challenges for generations. The equipment the U.S. provides to foreign partners can be technologically sensitive, meaning that if adversaries took possession, they could understand our capabilities and our limitations. {Music} [Holly Hobbs:] Chelsa just told us that tracking and monitoring defense assistance in Ukraine is important to ensuring it is secure and appropriately used. But that DOD's efforts to do this face a number of challenges. Chelsa what more do we think the Department of Defense should be doing to better oversee Ukraine defense assistance? [Chelsa Kenney:] We are recommending DOD take eight actions largely to improve the accuracy of U.S. data on security assistance provided to Ukraine and to assess whether the revised end-Use monitoring practices continue to meet our goals to avoid equipment diversion or unauthorized use. [Holly Hobbs:] Chelsa, last question-what's the bottom line of this report? [Chelsa Kenney:] The bottom line is that the U.S. has provided a significant amount of security assistance to Ukraine, and it's critical that DOD track and monitor this equipment to not only meet the near-term battlefield goals, but also to ensure long term security and accountability. [Holly Hobbs:] That was Chelsa Kenney talking about GAO's first report in a series on U.S. assistance to Ukraine. Thanks you for your time Chelsa! [Chelsa Kenney:] Thank you, Holly. [Holly Hobbs:] And thank you for listening to the Watchdog Report. 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