ACWA fraud (second half)
by: mjbrod_1 3058 of 3058
Mr. President, despite this clear expression of Congressional intent, the Army, the Department and the Administration have consistently refused to allocate sufficient funds to complete the testing. As a result, the ACWA program is in danger of losing its credibility -- the very quality that led to its initial successes. If the testing of the three technologies does not
produce a viable alternative to incineration, then the legitimate question will be posed, "What about the additional proposals which were viewed to have merit as alternatives to incineration?"
Not wishing to answer that question, I worked to encourage the
administration to agree that further testing was cost effective and in the best interests of the country. Their responses, which I will submit for the Record, professed their strong support for the goals of the ACWA program, but claimed that the budget was simply too tight for the Department to reprogram funds for additional testing.
With all due respect, that contention is simply false. The truth is that the Department of Defense and the Army made a decision years ago that they would eliminate chemical weapons using incineration and have resisted considering other options since that time.
This year's report, Senate Report 105-53, states that "the Committee is concerned with the lack of oversight afforded the Chemical Demilitarization Program within the executive branch."
Further the Report states:
"In a review of the program's funding, the Committee discovered that funds had systematically been obligated without being expended and in some instances funds were unobligated. Rather than facing a shortfall in funding, the program had over $200,000,000 of Operation and Maintenance funds unexpended at the end of fiscal year 1998. In light of the unobligated and unexpended balances available to the Department, the program
growth in the budget request is not justified."
Mr. President, this language is a stinging indictment of the Department's mismanagement of the Chemical Demilitarization program. Further it demonstrates clearly that there is no truth to the assertion that there were not sufficient funds available to allow for the demonstration of all viable alternatives to baseline incineration.
I intend to continue to press the Army to test allsix technologies so that the citizens who live near our stockpiles may be assured that only the safest methods available are employed to destroy chemical weapons.
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