US military surplus a supermarket for terrorists
Investigators using false identities were able to
obtain more than $1m of sensitive military equipment from the US department of
defence, according to a government report released on Tuesday.
Investigators using false identities were able to obtain more than $1m of sensitive military equipment from the US department of defence, according to a government report released on Tuesday.
The equipment included body armour, launcher mounts for shoulder-fired guided missiles, components for F-14 fighter aircraft, biochemical weapons protection suits, guided missile radar test sets and various sensitive surveillance technologies. Many of those items have applications that could be “useful to terrorists”, the report from the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) says.
The defence department routinely disposes of excess military equipment either through cut-rate sales to the public or to government contractors. Any item that has a possible military application is supposed to be destroyed. But investigators from the GAO, disguising themselves as private citizens or defence contractors, obtained the sensitive equipment. Some of the body armour and the F-14 parts, which included circuit boards, were obtained over the internet, they said.
I only wish the GAO investigators included some price comparisons between what taxpayers fronted for this stuff — and how much was charged when it went out the side door?
Posted: Thu - July 27, 2006 at 05:38 AM