This week, Senate Democrats continued to hold the Bush Administration accountable for its mistakes in the war in Iraq by holding hearings on the psychological needs of returning veterans and the waste, fraud and abuse that has plagued defense contracts in Iraq.  The Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs, chaired by Senator Daniel K. Akaka, reviewed the need for the Department of Defense to develop a better way to reintegrate soldiers suffering from mental trauma that has become the ‘signature' of these ongoing wars.  The Senate Appropriations Committee, chaired by Senator Robert Byrd, probed ongoing contract abuses in Iraq, amounting to billions of dollars and hundreds of thousands of unaccounted-for weapons.  Senate Democrats are committed to pushing the Department of Defense to care for our soldiers and stopping fraudulent abuse of taxpayer dollars in Iraq.

 

Wednesday, July 23rd

Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs

Oversight hearing on the needs of returning National Guard and Reserve members.

Daniel K. Akaka, Chairman

Veterans Affairs Reaches Out to Contact and Offer Health Care to Every Officer that Served in Iraq and Afghanistan. " The VA also conducts direct outreach by telephone through several initiatives, including the Secretary's recently announced call center campaign to contact every OEF/OIF veteran and service member, including members of the National Guard and Reserve, who have separated from service but who have not yet enrolled in VA health care." [Statement of Marianne Mathewson-Chapman, Ph.D., ARNP, Major General (Ret.) ARNG Coordinator National Guard, Reserve and Families VHA OEF/OIF Outreach Office, Veterans Health Administration, Department Of Veterans Affairs, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, 07/23/08]

West Virginia's National Guard and Reserve Members Have Psychological Issues at Rates Higher than Active Duty Soldiers. "Veterans who served as members of the National Guard and Reserves are experiencing a greater negative impact on psychological and daily functioning than are Active Duty personnel. Those Veterans from Rural Counties of West Virginia are experiencing a greater negative impact than those from Urban West Virginia Counties. The negative impact extends beyond the Veterans themselves and includes significant others and children."[Statement of Joseph R. Scotti, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology West Virginia University, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, 07/23/08]

West Virginia's Doctors are Concerned with the Increasing Rates of Suicide Amongst Troops Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. "Due to growing concerns about the increased rates of suicide among OIF/OEF Veterans, we reviewed the data for three factors that have been shown to be associated with increased suicide risk: high levels of symptoms of depression and PTSD, and high levels of combat exposure (Rand Corporation, 2008). In this sample, 8% of the Veterans had scores consistent with this ‘risk profile,' suggesting high risk for suicide."[Statement of Joseph R. Scotti, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology West Virginia University, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, 07/23/08]

Vermont leads the Country with the Highest Per Capita Number of Troops Killed in Iraq.  "Up to this time, Vermont has lost eleven Guardsmen; nine in Iraq, one in Kuwait and one in Afghanistan.  In addition, another sixteen Soldiers and Marines with Vermont-related connections were killed in action. This number continued to elevate Vermont into the unfortunate circumstance of having the highest per capita casualty rate in the Iraq war.  This cumulative loss and the effect it had on several deployments, especially Task Force Saber (Ar Ramadi, Iraq June 2005 - June 2006), became a driving force to develop a robust program focused on helping returning soldiers with PTSD, other mental health conditions, TBI and other needs."[Statement of Lieutenant Colonel John C. Boyd Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel Vermont Army National Guard, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee, 07/23/08]

Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder are the Signature Injuries of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Most programs, while well constructed and resourced, are passive in nature. This requires the injured Service Member, or his/her Family, to not only recognize the problem, but also to figure out where to seek help, and to gain the knowledge to fight through the red tape to get the help they need."[Statement of Major Cynthia M. Rasmussen RN, MSN, CANP Combat Stress Officer Sexual Assault Response Coordinator 88th Regional Readiness Command, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee 07/23/08]

The Department of Defense Needs to Develop an Effective System to ‘Re-Integrate' National Guardsmen and Reservists Returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. "We recognize the need to work hand in hand with the Department of Defense to provide ‘seamless transition' care for all Service Members/ Veterans and Families, not just those who are seriously wounded. Medical providers must be able to recognize, articulate and care for the Service Member with Combat Operational Stress Reaction before the sequences of events results in serious life-altering consequences. Veterans have multiple and complex issues. Our legacy systems of ‘stovepipe care' are out-dated and ineffective. If the Service Members are Reserve Soldiers or Guard Members, include their commands and battle buddies, wingmen, shipmates, and so on, in their care. All of us need to recognize that reintegration issues are a part of the challenge of caring for Veterans and Families."[Statement of Major Cynthia M. Rasmussen RN, MSN, CANP Combat Stress Officer Sexual Assault Response Coordinator 88th Regional Readiness Command, before the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee 07/23/08]

 

Senate Appropriations Committee

Oversight hearing on Waste, Fraud, and Abuse in Defense Contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Robert Byrd, Chairman

Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England is Unable to Testify Whether or Not 190,000 Weapons Unaccounted for in Iraq. 

BYRD:  And do you know if the 190,000 weapons have been recovered?

GORDON ENGLAND [Deputy Secretary of Defense: Mr. Chairman, I'll be -- I recall these conversations, but I'll tell you, I can't -- I cannot tell you the specifics right now. I mean, this is -- I was -- I'm just not prepared to discuss that subject with you. That's not something I looked at in preparation for this hearing.  Maybe one of my colleagues here has a specific on...

BYRD:  Does any -- anyone else have it?

GORDON ENGLAND:  We'll just -- I expect we'll have to get back with you on this subject, unless somebody has a very detailed status today.

BYRD:  Can somebody answer that question?

GORDON ENGLAND: Looks like we'll have to get back with you on that, Senator. So we will -- we will close the loop with you after this hearing.   [Senate Appropriations Hearing, 7/23/08]

Inspector General Audit of Just $10 Billion of DOD Contract Funds Ends in Referring 1 of every 25 Contracts for Criminal Investigation.  "There was a recent audit by the Inspector General's Office that examined more than $10 billion spent on various commercial contracts related to the war in Iraq. Found out of those $10 billion about $1.4 billion didn't have sufficient document showing how money was spent. More then $7 billion failed to meet the Defense Department's own requirements for payments.  They ended up referring one out of every 25 of them for criminal investigations. That's shocking enough, but that's on a very small sample even: about 1 percent of the total payments.  And according to the same audit, more than 180,000 similar payments were never reviewed or audited, and those could involve billions of dollars of losses." [Senator Leahy, Senate Appropriations Hearing, 7/23/08]

DOD Official Defends Petraeus Order to Have KBR Review Its Own Contract Abuses. 

SEN. DORGAN:  My question was, do you think it appropriate to ask for the contractor, whose own employees have turned whistleblowers -- saying that the contractor, among other things, is hiring third-country nationals who can't do the work because they don't know what to do, they're not skilled and qualified -- to ask that contractor to go back and review the work? It just seems illogical to me.

SHAY ASSAD [Director of Defense Procurement, DOD]:   I think it's appropriate to ensure that the contractor has qualified folks to do that work. And then it's just as appropriate -- and we will oversee what it is he's doing, and, as the secretary mentioned, on a sample basis, ensure that those inspections that he did are in fact accurate. [Senate Appropriations Hearing, 7/23/08]

Department of the Army Denied Well-Founded Case of Troop Water Contamination Despite KBR Report.  "In this very room, General Jerome Johnson sat at that table and testified to the Senate Armed Services Committee that the issue -- and this is another issue, one of a dozen or so -- the issue of providing contaminated water to the Army camps in Iraq -- we know that happened by KBR because of a 21-page internal report, and that was done by Will Granger, who was in charge of that function for the entire company, paid for by the taxpayer.  He said this was a near-miss, could have caused mass sickness or death, because they were providing water to the Army camps that were twice as contaminated as raw water from the Euphrates River.  We had three whistleblowers from that company, an internal report from the company, and the company and the Department of the Army said it never happened. It did not happen."  [Senator Dorgan, Democratic Policy Committee Chair, Senate Appropriations Hearing, 7/23/08]

DOD Officials Avoid Holding KBR Accountable for Unaccounted Expenditures During Sen. Byrd's Questioning.

SEN. BYRD:  General Griffin, given the large dollar amount of unaccounted-for expenditures, why has KBR been permitted to continue to contract with the Department of Defense?...

JEFF PARSONS [Director of Army Contracting Command]:  What we tend to find when we really start peeling the onion skin back is that there may not have been a real clarity in the definition of the requirements. There's not always a real clarity in the contract scope of work and the statement of work.  And so, trying to, you know, find KBR totally accountable for some of these actions isn't always the case. And in many cases, it's a shared responsibility, because of some of the work that we did on the government side. [Senate Appropriations Hearing, 7/23/08]

Senator Dorgan Speaks Out Against DOD Avoidance of Contract Fraud.  "You know, the more public allegation of 42,000 meals being charged every day when 14,000 meals were served. I don't know what the disposition of that was, but that's 28,000 meals a day overcharge.  You know, I don't -- we have sent all of that over to the Department of Defense. Some of it goes in, I get letters back saying, "We're looking into this," the Criminal Investigation (sic) Service is looking into it, and some of this is 4 years old, 3 years old, and you never hear back. And my hope is that, Mr. Inspector General, you'll be able to take a look at some of those older cases.  Because it seems to me that one of the lessons here from Mr. Smith and Ms. Greenhouse is, if you speak up about this and complain about it, you're going to quickly lose your job." [Senator Dorgan, Democratic Policy Committee Chair, Senate Appropriations Hearing, 7/23/08]