DOD Excess Property: Risk Assessment Needed on Public Sales of Equipment That Could Be Used to Make Biological Agents

In response to GAO's work, DOD performed a risk assessment, which determined and established appropriate controls over excess laboratory equipment. DOD also discontinued the sale of chemical and biological protective suits and related gear to the public--actions which should significantly reduce the associated national security risk.

In a February 11, 2004, letter to Chairman Shays, the DLA Executive Director, Distribution and Reutilization Policy, stated that its liquidation sales contractor returned all textiles to Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) control in October 2003. To more securely control future disposition of these items, DRMS, in conjunction with the Joint Service Nuclear Biological Chemical Defense Equipment Assessment Program (JSNBCDEAP), is in the process of establishing more regional "Textile Clearing Houses" that are designed to sort textile assets to identify and segregate co-mingled NBC clothing and equipment. After going through the clearing house process, remaining textiles will be sorted by national stock number. Assets identified as NBC will remain property of the JSNBCDEAP. Other assets will be turned in at the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Offices, co-located with the regional Textile Clearing Houses for proper disposition. The first Textile Clearing House was established at the DRMO in Columbus, Ohio in December 2003. The second clearing house was established at the Norfolk Virginia DRMO in February 2004. Additional clearing houses are scheduled for Texarkana, Texas; Barstow, California; Okinawa and Sagami, Japan; Hawaii, Guam, and Kaiserslautern, Germany. GAO's monitoring of DOD liquidation contractor Internet sales has not identified continuing improper sales of DOD chemical and biological protective clothing.

On November 12, 2003, DLA and the Joint Service Nuclear Biological Chemical Defense Equipment Assessment Program group developed and issued new procedures for controlling these excess items and disseminated a message to all the military services informing them of the new control process for nuclear, biological, and chemical property items, specific disposition instructions, and the requirement that all excess chemical and biological property and equipment be turned in under their assigned national stock numbers (NSN). In addition, DLA established a DEMIL Code Integrated Process Team (IPT) in October 2003 to assess the DEMIL coding process. The Demilitarization Coding Management Office was tasked to identify systemic, service-peculiar problems with coding. The IPT will meet with the military service DEMIL coordinators March 23, 2004, to identify coding discrepancies and develop a plan of action to correct them. Recurring problems with proper identification of property by NSN is on the meeting agenda. Also, DRMS has established on its Web site an interactive communication tool that allows DRMS employees to query the system on Infrared Reflectant/nuclear, biological, and chemical assets. The Web page serves as an information conduit to the field activities as changes occur.

In response to GAO's recommendation, the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service (DRMS) issued new guidance for Compliance Assessment reviews and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) conducted Staff Assistance Visits to monitor DRMS reviews and provide assurance that excess chemical and biological protective clothing and other items are properly controlled. While the DRMS operational reviews are focusing on controls over chemical and biological protective clothing, the DLA Compliance Assessment Reviews are covering all items requiring demilitarization controls. Both DLA and DRMS have initiated these reviews and the DLA Executive Director, Distribution and Reutilization Policy is monitoring the status and results of the reviews. In addition, Defense Reutilization and Marketing Offices (DRMO) have updated their Quarterly Self Assessments to reflect specific questions targeted at compliant handling of nuclear, biological, and chemical items and items with infra-red reflectant properties. GAO confirmed that these reviews have been implemented.

On February 11, 2004, DOD finalized its policy, which also updates the Defense Demilitarization Manual (DOD 4160.21-M-1). The policy states that DOD has determined that items, including those with any content of 900 nanometers or more of IR reflectant, to be of a sufficiently critical and sensitive nature to require demilitarization prior to release from DOD control. Items with less than 900 nanometer of IR reflectant are no longer subject to demilitarization or export controls.

In response to GAO's recommendation, on December 19, 2003, DOD sent a memorandum to all state coordinators and law enforcement agencies that warned of dangers associated with using certain chemical protective or battle dress overgarment (BDO) suits and provided the national stock numbers associated with these suits. The Memorandum strongly recommended that these BDO chemical and biological protective suits be used for "Training Purposes Only" or returned to the Defense Reutilization and Marketing Service and stated that death or serious injuries could occur if the suits are not used for intended purposes. The memorandum stressed that all state coordinators must ensure that these protective suits will be used for training purposes only and that they should not be mistaken for serviceable suits.