US Military Equipment Backdoored Into Iran & China

Via VOA -

A U.S. news agency reports that surplus American military equipment has made its way to Iran and China through unscrupulous dealers and a lack of security in a Defense Department program. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

In an exclusive report, the Associated Press says missile components and high-technology parts for fighter jets and helicopters have been among the material that has ended up in countries that are not supposed to receive such things.

The agency reports that the defense department sold fighter jet parts to a broker secretly working for Iran even after the U.S. Customs Service had intercepted that same equipment on its way to Iran from a previous sale to another broker. Those parts were for F-14 Tomcat fighters, and according to the AP story, Iran is the only country that still flies those jets.

In a statement issued Tuesday, the Defense Logistics Agency, which handles U.S. military surplus sales for the Pentagon, said it does not sell any F-14 parts at all. No one from the agency would speak to VOA, but the written statement said it takes seriously what it calls its "primary mission ... to protect critical and sensitive information."

In response to allegations in the article of lax security measures, the statement says the Agency "will continue to monitor" its "policies and procedures to ensure no excess military items fall into unauthorized hands."

The surplus military sales return tens of millions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury every year.