Foreign Assistance: Agencies Should Take Steps to Improve Reporting on Assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan
Fast Facts
To avoid worsening a dispute between Azerbaijan and neighboring Armenia, U.S. law generally restricts assistance to the government of Azerbaijan. However, the President may waive this restriction by certifying that the assistance is necessary and won't hamper peace efforts between the two countries.
The State Department, which makes these certifications, must report the assistance annually to Congress. But we found State didn't provide Congress with all required information—such as the impact of aid on the military balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
We recommended that State provide all required information to Congress.
Azerbaijan and Armenia have disputed the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Highlights
What GAO Found
Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act of 1992 generally prohibits assistance, other than specified support for nonproliferation and disarmament, to the government of Azerbaijan. Subsequent legislation has exempted other types of aid, such as democracy and humanitarian assistance. Since 2002, the President has had the authority to waive the Section 907 restriction annually by certifying certain conditions.
Provision Regarding Waiver of Restriction on Assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan
The Departments of State, Defense (DOD), and Energy and the U.S. Agency for International Development reported providing about $808 million for assistance for Azerbaijan in fiscal years 2002 through 2020. State and DOD reported providing about $164 million of this amount (20 percent) for security assistance to the government of Azerbaijan pursuant to the Section 907 waiver. Other U.S. agencies' reported categories of assistance—for example, to support democracy and nuclear nonproliferation—were exempt from the Section 907 restriction.
State coordinates with other U.S. agencies providing assistance for Azerbaijan, collecting information needed to determine whether conditions exist to certify the extension of the Section 907 waiver and to comply with the reporting requirement. However, in fiscal years 2014 through 2021, State's reporting to Congress did not address some required elements, such as the impact of proposed assistance on the military balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia. State's 2021 guidance to agencies did not provide detailed instructions about the information required for its reporting to Congress. Unless State takes steps to ensure its reporting addresses all required elements, Congress may lack important information about U.S. assistance to the government of Azerbaijan.
In assessments of their programs providing assistance to the Azerbaijani government pursuant to the Section 907 waiver in fiscal years 2014 through 2021, State and DOD did not document consideration of information the waiver provision requires to be communicated to Congress. For example, the agencies did not document how they determined that their programs would not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia. While program-level considerations of the waiver provision are not statutorily required, documenting such considerations would help ensure State's access to quality information to support its certification of the waiver extension and its related reporting to Congress.
Why GAO Did This Study
For decades, Azerbaijan and its neighbor Armenia have disputed rights to the region of Nagorno-Karabakh; in 2020, this dispute escalated to open conflict. While Section 907 generally restricts U.S. assistance to the government of Azerbaijan, the President may waive this provision. The President delegated to State the responsibility for making the certification necessary to waive the Section 907 restriction and for reporting to Congress on assistance provided pursuant to the waiver.
GAO was asked to review assistance provided under the Section 907 waiver. This report examines (1) amounts and types of assistance provided for Azerbaijan in fiscal years 2002 through 2020, (2) State's processes for determining that conditions exist to extend the waiver and the extent of compliance with related consultation and reporting requirements, and (3) the extent to which agencies have considered the waiver provision when assessing programs that provided assistance to the government of Azerbaijan pursuant to a waiver. GAO analyzed data for fiscal years 2002 through 2021; reviewed agency guidance, processes, and assessments of assistance to the government of Azerbaijan; and interviewed agency officials.
Recommendations
GAO is making three recommendations—that State ensure its reporting to Congress meets the Section 907 reporting requirement and that State and DOD ensure they document consideration of the Section 907 waiver provision. State and DOD concurred with the recommendations.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Department of State | The Secretary of State should ensure that the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs takes steps—such as including detailed instructions in its guidance to agencies providing assistance for Azerbaijan—to ensure that State's reporting to Congress about U.S. assistance to the Azerbaijani government provided pursuant to the Section 907 waiver addresses all elements of the statutory reporting requirement. (Recommendation 1) |
State concurred with the recommendation. State sent GAO a copy of its 180-Day Congressional Transmittal Letter, dated August 10, 2022. The letter described State's planned actions to take steps to ensure that its guidance includes detailed instructions to agencies providing assistance for Azerbaijan to ensure that the department's reporting to Congress about U.S. assistance to the Azerbaijani government addresses all elements of the statutory reporting requirement. In the letter, State stated that it had sent agencies a request for a written assessment of whether their assistance programs provided pursuant to the waiver affected, or could affect, the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and whether it had an impact, or could have an impact, on the negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan. State also told GAO that it plans to continue sending similar written requests for detailed information for the assessments in the future. Further, State shared copies of the 2022 Memorandum of Justification and 60-Day report required under title II of P.L. 107-115, which accompanied State's Section 907 waiver determination. These documents included detailed information about its assessments of the status of negotiations for a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the impact of U.S. assistance on those negotiations--two areas that we had noted as being deficient in State's reporting in prior years.
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| Department of State | The Secretary of State, in consultation with the Secretary of Defense, should ensure that State documents at the program level, such as in program assessments, its consideration of information that the Section 907 waiver provision requires to be communicated to Congress. (Recommendation 2) |
State concurred with the recommendation. State sent GAO a copy of its 180-Day Congressional Transmittal Letter, dated August 10, 2022. The letter described State's planned actions to ensure that State documented at the program level, such as in program assessments, its consideration of information required to be communicated to Congress pursuant to the Section 907 waiver of the FREEDOM Support Act (Pub. L. 102-511). In the letter, State stated that it had communicated with agencies planning to provide assistance to Azerbaijan pursuant to the Section 907 waiver, requesting that each provide detailed, written input about whether their programs to support the government of Azerbaijan would continue to meet the requirements pursuant to the Section 907 waiver. State also stated that it had summarized program-level assessments in Part A of the FY 2022 60-Day Report, and that it had incorporated Section 907 considerations into the annual assessment of the International Military Education and Training (IMET) programming for Azerbaijan. We reviewed relevant documentation provided by State and agree that State has taken steps to document program-level considerations of information related to the Section 907 waiver. First, in January 2022 State sent each agency providing assistance to Azerbaijan instructions to provide specific detail about their programs that are subject to a Section 907 waiver. In an email to GAO dated September 28, 2022, State confirmed that it plans to send the instructions to the agencies on an annual basis. Secondly, we confirmed that State had summarized program-level assessments in Part A of the 2022 60-Day Report with new details about program-level considerations related to the Section 907 waiver. Finally, our review confirmed that State has incorporated Section 907 considerations into the 2022 annual assessment of the IMET programming for Azerbaijan. These three actions show that State is taking steps to ensure that it is documenting at the program level its consideration of information that the Section 907 waiver requires to be communicated to Congress.
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| Department of Defense | The Secretary of Defense should ensure that DOD documents at the program level, such as in program assessments, its consideration of information that the Section 907 waiver provision requires to be communicated to Congress. (Recommendation 3) |
DOD concurred with the recommendation. In June 2022, DOD sent GAO and Congress a Corrective Action Plan which states that DOD had coordinated with other DOD stakeholders to ensure that established processes include documenting program-level consideration of information required to be communicated to Congress pursuant to the Section 907 waiver of the FREEDOM Support Act (Pub. L. 102-511). In August 2022, DOD issued a task for U.S. European Command, in coordination with other DOD entities and U.S. Embassy Baku, to identify and describe all DOD funded assistance and cooperation activity planned for fiscal year 2023. As a result, DOD provided GAO a list of planned programs activities for fiscal year 2023 under authorities pursuant to a Section 907 waiver. The document asserts that the programs and activities do not affect the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan; will not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia; and will not hamper efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan. These actions show that DOD documented its consideration of information that the Section 907 waiver provision requires to be communicated to Congress, and that they plan to do so on an annual basis.
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