On
November 4 of this year, I introduced an amendment to this year’s National
Defense Bill.
This
amendment focuses on the Office of Net Assessment within the Pentagon.
The
Office of Net Assessment’s purpose is to produce an annual net assessment,
which is a long term look at our military’s capabilities and those of our
greatest adversaries.
In
2019, when I began to look at Stefan Halper’s contracting work for the Office
of Net Assessment, something didn’t look right. So, I asked the Inspector
General to look into it.
For
those who are unaware, Halper was a central figure in the debunked Russia-collusion
investigation.
Halper
secretly recorded Trump campaign officials during Crossfire Hurricane.
Halper
also received over a million taxpayer dollars from the Office of Net Assessment
for several “research” projects.
But,
the Inspector General found some problems with his contract:
·The
Office of Net Assessment didn’t require Halper to submit evidence that he actually
talked to the people he cited in his work, which included Russian intelligence
officers;
·The
Office of Net Assessment couldn’t provide sufficient documentation that Halper
conducted all of his work in accordance with the law; and
·The
Office of Net Assessment didn’t maintain sufficient documentation to comply
with all Federal contracting requirements and OMB guidelines.
The
Inspector General also found that these problems weren’t unique to Halper’s
contracts.
This
finding indicates systemic issues within the Office of Net Assessment.
Moreover,
this office has spent taxpayer money on research projects unconnected to a net
assessment.
Two
cases in point.
The
office funded a report titled, “On the Nature of Americans as a Warlike People:
Workshop Report.”
The
report highlighted the “level of American belligerency which is the result of
the persistence of Scotch-Irish culture in America.”
Another
report focused on Vladimir Putin’s neurological development and potential
Asperger’s diagnosis.
I’ve
highlighted these reports for the Pentagon. And I’ve asked for records from the
Office of Net Assessment relating to some of its other work. To date, they
still haven’t been able to provide all the records.
While
the Office of Net Assessment was busy wasting taxpayer money and not responding
to congressional requests, China built its hypersonic missile program.
As
a result of all these failures, I introduced my amendment to the Defense Bill
on November 4.
The
amendment would require the Government Accountability Office to determine how
much taxpayer money this unit actually uses for net assessments.
The
amendment would filter out taxpayer-funded research that has nothing to do with
a net assessment.
In
other words, it’s time we find out how much money the Office of Net Assessment
needs to actually do its job instead of acting like a slush fund for irrelevant
or political research projects.
This,
in turn, will save the taxpayers potentially millions of dollars a year.
I
encourage my colleagues to support the amendment.
