WASHINGTON —The Pentagon reported on June 20 that it overestimated the value of the weapons it has sent to Ukraine by $6.2 billion over the past two years — about double early estimates — resulting in a surplus that will be used for future security packages.
Kansas U.S. Junior Senator Roger Marshall joined colleagues in a letter to the Biden administration demanding answers. "Does the Department of Defense "accidentally" send an extra $6.2 billion in additional aid to Ukraine without congressional approval?" As President Biden was in Lithuania for a critical NATO summit, the Senators called for limits on military aid to Ukraine and questioned the DoD’s accounting procedures.
"This raises major concerns about the Biden Administration's basic ability to do their jobs," Marshall wrote.
Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said a detailed review of the accounting error found that the military services used replacement costs rather than the book value of equipment that was pulled from Pentagon stocks and sent to Ukraine. She said final calculations show there was an error of $3.6 billion in the current fiscal year and $2.6 billion in the 2022 fiscal year, which ended last Sept. 30.
As the letter to the Defense Department states, "These so-called 'valuation errors' are particularly concerning given the nature and scope of U.S. aid to Ukraine—over $113 billion thus far […] This is a transparent attempt to bypass Congress for additional funds, while continuing to prioritize Ukraine over more vital U.S. interests, including deterring China in the Pacific.”
"By using creative accounting to conceal the actual cost of supporting Ukraine, you appear to be circumventing the American people’s elected representatives. Congress, not DoD, possesses the power of the purse," the Senators concluded.
Members of Congress have repeatedly pressed Defense Department leaders on how closely the U.S. is tracking its aid to Ukraine to ensure that it is not subject to fraud or ending up in the wrong hands. The Pentagon has said it has a “robust program” to track the aid as it crosses the border into Ukraine and to keep tabs on it once it is there, depending on the sensitivity of each weapons system.
Singh said the accounting mistake won't affect the ongoing delivery of aid to Ukraine.