The Pentagon dumps surplus weapons at home and abroad
Speaking Security Newsletter | Advisory Note for Activists and Candidates, n°145 | 10 February 2022
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Situation
Since I wrote that article, not much has changed. The Ukraine bill is still stuck on the one-yard line due to partisan disagreement over the type and timing of sanctions the legislation should include. The military aid portion is said to be already settled—probably because there weren’t many differences between the military aid proposals each party brought to the negotiating table.
For example, both parties had a provision related to the Pentagon’s “excess defense articles” (EDA) program in their sponsored legislation. The EDA program transfers surplus (“excess”) US matériel to foreign governments for free or for sale at significantly marked-down prices. The Democrats’ EDA provision said to prioritize sending EDAs to Ukraine over other countries; the Republican version said to expedite EDA shipments when they’re going to Ukraine. I’m hearing the final bill will include one or both these measures.
Comparing excess property programs
There’s a domestic version of the EDA program that also helps the Pentagon offload its surplus equipment. The 1033 program functions similarly to the EDA program, but transfers surplus matériel to state and local police instead of foreign militaries. (You can read more about 1033 here, here, here, and here.)
Many police departments that acquire military gear through the 1033 program wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford the equipment. Similarly (to some extent), more than two-thirds of the surplus items transferred through the EDA program ends up in the Global South (countries considered as developing or least-developed). Only 32% of the value of all EDA transfers go to developed countries.
Both programs transfer gear purportedly only at the request of the buyer, but there appears to be a significant supply-side force at play, too. Plotting out the value of the stuff that flowed through each program over the last 10 years, surges seem to coincide with major US troop drawdowns—first from Iraq and then from Afghanistan—with an understandable lag time for each program (due to equipment processing, transportation, etc), though there’s longer delay for 1033. For example, MRAPs (predominately used in Iraq) started popping up in the EDA program in 2012 and in 2013 for the 1033 program.
Thanks for your time,
Stephen (@stephensemler; stephen@securityreform.org)
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