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 #19713  by Jacques
 
June 29, Dayton Daily News – (International) GAO: Arms sales program still flawed. In March 2008, the Department of Defense disclosed that it mistakenly transferred intercontinental ballistic missile parts to Taiwan through a U.S. program that sells pre-approved defense articles and services to foreign governments. In a new report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office says the departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security still have not corrected weaknesses that the GAO identified, as early as 2003, in the government’s monitoring of articles shipped through the foreign military sales (FMS) program. The GAO, an investigative arm of Congress, told Congress in a report released last week that the inadvertent shipment of the missile parts to Taiwan raised “questions about whether previously identified weaknesses have been resolved.” The FMS program remains an integral part of U.S. national security and foreign policy, the GAO said. The program, in which the Air Force, Army and Navy participate, sold more than $36 billion in defense equipment and services to foreign governments during fiscal 2008, a 56 percent increase from fiscal 2007. According to the GAO, the State Department has not finalized its regulations to establish the Defense Department’s duties in verifying whether the correct items are being shipped to foreign countries. Federal port customs officials lack information needed to verify that FMS shipments are properly authorized, and the Defense Department lacks data needed to effectively administer and oversee the program, the GAO said.

Source: http://www.military.com/news/article/ga ... 0810&wh=wh