Mandates Zero In on Certain Conventional Arms

Jeff Abramson

In part in response to a July 2007 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report critical of the Department of Defense’s record keeping, Congress has passed legislation mandating new tracking requirements for defense articles provided to Iraq. Another congressionally approved measure places restrictions on military aid to some countries and calls for spending to help others based on humanitarian factors.

In July, the GAO found that the Defense Department could not fully account for at least 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi forces (see ACT, September 2007). The fiscal year 2008 defense authorization bill required the establishment of a registration and monitoring system on defense articles provided to the Iraqi government or any group, organization, citizen, or resident of the country. The system would require registration of all small arms, a program of end-use monitoring of all lethal defense articles, and detailed origin, shipping, and distribution records of defense articles for security forces or security assistance programs. The requirements were to take effect within 180 days of enactment, but the defense authorization bill was vetoed by President George W. Bush Dec. 28 over other issues. It is anticipated that a revised version of the authorization bill that the president could approve would maintain the requirements.

Omnibus appropriations legislation, which includes funding for the Department of State, was signed by Bush Dec. 26. That law requires that military aid not be provided to any country identified in the 2006 State Department country reports on human rights as recruiting or using child soldiers. It also sets aside nearly $80 million for humanitarian demining programs and $45 million for small arms and light weapons destruction efforts.

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