Department of Defense: Weaknesses in Humanitarian and Civic Assistance Programs
Highlights
GAO discussed its review of the Department of Defense's (DOD) Humanitarian and Civic Assistance (HCA) Program. GAO noted that: (1) DOD has not reported the value of excess supplies it has transferred to other countries since 1990, when the reporting requirement was eliminated; (2) in 1992, DOD reported that it used $6.6 million in consumable supplies and materials, but did not include troop transport or per diem costs in the report; (3) DOD commands did not seek Department of State approval or DOD coordination in using unspent money from previous projects to finance other civic assistance projects; (4) because commands are not required to report the cost of minimal assistance, coordinate with DOD, or obtain State approval, the total cost of such assistance is unknown; (5) DOD has not issued a final directive outlining legal positions and operating procedures; (6) service secretaries do not always ensure that civic projects enhance readiness skills, do not duplicate other assistance, or serve basic economic and social needs; (7) DOD commands do not always obtain embassy comments and concurrence before submitting projects for approval; and (8) the training benefits of some projects were questionable, and some work was performed by soldiers who lacked appropriate training.