Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa is looking into a $43 million compressed natural gas station in Afghanistan, the task force that spent $800 million, including the gas station cost, and allegations that the Defense Department may have retaliated against an Army colonel for expressing concern about a lack of accountability at the task force. The Defense Department responded to Grassley's letters. Grassley made the following comment on the response.
"This response is incomplete and inadequate. It ignores my request for the task force records. That's unsatisfactory. The Defense Department needs to address the request and provide me the documents I requested. It needs to give full access to task force documents to the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction. No inspector general’s office should have to jump through hoops to get what it needs to conduct audits. The response is lacking in other ways. It says the Defense Department sought a Defense Department inspector general audit of the task force, and the inspector general 'denied' the request. That raises many questions about why the Defense Department simply didn't direct the inspector general to conduct such an audit. The inspector general and other audit agencies within the department have huge audit capabilities and easily could reallocate resources to cover high priority targets. Finally, the Defense Department says the Army colonel's delayed Officer Evaluation Report, key to a promotion, has been completed and that the delay was due to an 'administrative oversight.' This is a superficial response that requires much more accounting from the Defense Department. I've conveyed my lack of satisfaction with the response to the Defense Department. I intend to continue pursuing answers."
The Defense Department's response to Grassley is available here. Grassley's letters to the Defense Department are available here.
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