Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed information on the annual costs for security and military assistance during fiscal years (FY) 1982 through 1985.

GAO found that: (1) agencies had changed some of the data presented in an earlier report; (2) in FY 1985, all new foreign military sales (FMS) loans were put on-budget; (3) the shift to on-budget direct loans accurately reflected the total borrowing for foreign military assistance and provided greater flexibility to issue concessional interest rate loans; (4) the largest recipients of FMS loans have increasingly had their loan repayments waived or forgiven; (5) the government has made almost $1.7 billion in payments due to nonpayment on scheduled guaranteed loans; and (6) various steps have been taken to provide low concessional interest rates and military assistance on a grant, no-cost basis.