Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Cash payments in Afghanistan (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)
Lawmakers in Congress are beginning to grow concerned over the amount of cash being distributed by American military commanders in war zones. Provided so the military can make friends with local citizens and help struggling economies, the amount of appropriated for the Commander’s Emergency Response Program (CERP) is now more than $1 billion a year.
But how that money is spent is unclear, as generals have not been forced so far to account for all their CERP expenditures. That could change if Congress forces the Department of Defense to create better oversight of who is getting how much in Afghanistan and Iraq. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is resisting such a requirement.
“Even with improved execution and oversight, it is unrealistic to expect a tool like CERP – whose very effectiveness is tied to its flexibility and the discretion granted to local commanders in a war zone–to attain a zero-defect standard,” Gates told a congressional committee.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
Oversight Sought for Battlefield 'Bags of Cash' in Iraq, Afghanistan (by Gordon Lubold, Christian Science Monitor)
Subject: Military Operations: Actions Needed to Better Guide Project Selection for Commander’s Emergency Response Program and Improve Oversight in Iraq (Government Accountability Office) (pdf)
The GI's Weapon of Choice in Iraq: Dollars (by Dan Murphy, Christian Science Monitor)
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