WASHINGTON, Jan. 16, 2007
Iran Buys Surplus U.S. Military Hardware
Investigation Finds Military Auctions Are "Supermarket For Arms Dealers"
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This undated handout photo provided by Immigration and Customs Enforcement shows the box containing parts that were originally seized during the Multicore investigation, returned to Pentagon surplus, resold with a customs evidence sticker still attached, and in 2005 seized again by customs agents from another company suspected of doing business with Iran. (AP/ICE)
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This Oct. 26, 2005 file photo released by the US Navy, shows an F-14 "Tomcat" from the Fighter Squadron (VF) 31 patrolling the skies over Iraq. The Pentagon retired the F-14 in Sept. 2006. (AP/U.S. Navy)
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In one case, federal investigators said, the contraband made it to Iran, a country President Bush branded part of an "axis of evil."
In that instance, a Pakistani arms broker convicted of exporting U.S. missile parts to Iran resumed business after his release from prison. He purchased Chinook helicopter engine parts for Iran from a U.S. company that had bought them in a Pentagon surplus sale. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, speaking on condition of anonymity, say those parts made it to Iran.
The surplus sales can operate like a supermarket for arms dealers.
"Right Item, Right Time, Right Place, Right Price, Every Time. Best Value Solutions for America's Warfighters," the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service says on its Web site, calling itself "the place to obtain original U.S. Government surplus property."
Federal investigators are increasingly anxious that Iran is within easy reach of a top priority on its shopping list: parts for the precious fleet of F-14 "Tomcat" fighter jets the United States let Iran buy in the 1970s when it was an ally.
In one case, convicted middlemen for Iran bought Tomcat parts from the Defense Department's surplus division. Customs agents confiscated them and returned them to the Pentagon, which sold them again customs evidence tags still attached to another buyer, a suspected broker for Iran.
That incident appalled even an expert on weaknesses in Pentagon surplus security controls.
"That would be evidence of a significant breakdown, in my view, in controls and processes," said Greg Kutz, the Government Accountability Office's head of special investigations. "It shouldn't happen the first time, let alone the second time."
A Defense Department official, Fred Baillie, said his agency followed procedures.
"The fact that those individuals chose to violate the law and the fact that the customs people caught them really indicates that the process is working," said Baillie, the Defense Logistics Agency's executive director of distribution. "Customs is supposed to check all exports to make sure that all the appropriate certifications and licenses had been granted."
The Pentagon recently retired its Tomcats and is shipping tens of thousands of spare parts to its surplus office the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service where they could be sold in public auctions. Iran is the only other country flying F-14s.
"It stands to reason Iran will be even more aggressive in seeking F-14 parts," said Stephen Bogni, head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's arms export investigations. Iran can only produce about 15 percent of the parts itself, he said.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Posted by j-whitman at 07:14 PM : Jan 16, 2007
"It is solely civil service workers & supervisors creating this problem & has been going on for years."
Posted by j-whitman at 07:10 PM : Jan 16, 2007
"It's a world wide organization."
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"& our Retirees who forget everything the military tought them - for Greed "
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