WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley continues to drill down on wasteful spending and poor accountability by a task force meant to help develop business in Afghanistan, following up on testimony from a Defense Department official at a recent hearing and seeking answers on whether the Defense Department retaliated against a colonel who spoke out about task force problems.
“Testimony from a Defense Department official left me with more questions than answers,” Grassley said. “It’s more obvious than ever that a top-to-bottom audit is needed to address all the questions being raised. We need a full and complete accounting of how the money was spent. We also need a full accounting of whether the Pentagon retaliated against an Army colonel who tried to point out what was wrong at the task force. The public needs answers so those responsible for wrongful spending and poor treatment of a whistleblower can be held accountable.”
Grassley is concerned about excessive, unexplained spending by the Defense Department’s Task Force for Business and Stability Operations (TFBSO) in Afghanistan. Following up on a hearing last month of the Armed Services Readiness and Management Support Subcommittee, chaired by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.), Grassley wrote to Defense Secretary Ashton Carter with 23 detailed questions about the task force and alleged mistreatment of the whistleblower.
Grassley said the record indicates that $820 million was appropriated for the task force, $759 million was obligated, and $638 million was actually spent. Grassley asked for details to drill down on what happened with the task force funds and whether the spending was accounted for in any way. It’s unclear what happened to the $182 million in unexpended appropriations and whether expired funds were returned to the Treasury, as required by law, or were reprogrammed by Congress for other purposes.
Grassley wrote, “Defense Department regulations and statutory law require that the department maintain appropriate documentation to support all obligations and expenditures and have those records ready for review by auditors. Who in the department is accountable for failing to abide by those rules for TFBSO financial transactions?”
Grassley also sought answers about Defense Department treatment of Colonel John Hope, former TFBSO director in Afghanistan, who expressed concern about task force problems and had a key evaluation report, necessary for his career advancement, delayed over a computer glitch that Grassley described as “not plausible.”
Grassley said he has yet to receive a hard drive with all task force documents from the Defense Department, as he requested last November. He noted that the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) received the hard drive, which he also requested, although not until just before the subcommittee hearing last month. “I expect to receive those documents without further delay,” Grassley wrote.
Grassley sought a formal audit of the task force from SIGAR, which is planning both financial and performance audits.
Grassley’s letter is available here.
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