CNSNews.com - U.S. Technology Being Used Against U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan Because of Lax Export Controls

CNSNews.com - U.S. Technology Being Used Against U.S. Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan Because of Lax Export Controls

(CNSNews.com) - Technology that is legal to buy and sell within the U.S. but is illegal to export because of its potential military applications has been used to build weapons deployed against U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan because of loose export controls, according to a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report issued last week.



One such piece of equipment, an inclinometer, measures an object’s slope and inclination for medical, optical, range-finder, and robotics purposes, but also can be used in making IEDs.

According to the GAO and the Department of Defense (DOD) this tool has been falling into the wrong hands at the cost of American lives.

“[I]n 2008, various individuals and companies were indicted on federal charges for purchasing items capable of being used to construct Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), including inclinometers, and exporting these items to multiple transshipment points, with Iran being the final destination,” said the GAO report. “These types of items have been, and may continue to be, used against U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

“It’s pretty common knowledge that American-made parts are finding their way into IEDs [improvised explosive devices] in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Jonathan Meyer, assistant director of GAO’s forensic audits and special investigations, told CNSNews.com.

“We know it’s happening, we’ve talked to DOD officials to confirm that,” said Meyer.

An undercover GAO investigation team was able to procure, and in some cases export, various dual-use technologies “without detection.” The investigation revealed that the law does not require distributors of these goods to double-check why buyers want the products or where the products will end up. It is almost impossible to track them once the products are sold, which makes them easy to export.

Although IEDs can be made using a variety of materials, using illegally exported U.S. technology allows terrorists to make more complicated weapons.

“The [DOD] official stated that terrorist groups are using more advanced IEDs with easy access to this type of technology,” the GAO report said.

Another DOD official from the Joint IED Defeat Organization said the illegal exports are not the only instruments being used in IEDs, however.

“Whether they are using rudimentary or highly sophisticated technologies, terrorist groups are adaptive and will use whatever resources they can find to do their damage,” the official said.

In September, a federal grand jury in Miami, Fla., indicted eight individuals and eight companies for activities connected to exporting dual-use materials to “prohibited entities and to Iran.”

A Justice Department statement said the indictment “alleges that the defendants caused the export of 120 field-programmable gate arrays, more than 5000 integrated circuits of varying types, approximately 345 Global Positioning Systems ('GPS'), 12,000 Microchip brand micro-controllers, and a Field Communicator. All of these items have potential military applications, including as components in the construction of improvised explosive devices (IEDs)."

“The dual use items that the defendants illegally exported to Iran have military applications, including the making of improvised explosive devices,” U.S. Attorney Alex Acosta said when the indictment was unsealed. "I urge any domestic supplier who may have unwittingly helped the defendants, or others like them, to come forth and report the matter to federal law enforcement."

A Defense Department official explained at the time of this indictment that the export of these technologies posed a mortal threat to U.S. troops in the field.

“The illegal diversion of U.S. military technologies through deception, by domestic and foreign companies, poses a significant danger to America's soldiers on the battlefield,” Sharon Woods, director of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service said when the indictment was unsealed.

“These illegally exported goods provided our enemies with necessary components to manufacture improvised explosive devices, designed to kill and maim U.S. troops and allies,” said Woods. “The Pentagon's Defense Criminal Investigative Service and its investigative partners will continue to pursue and expose these hidden enemies to help protect our soldiers as we fight against global terrorism."

During its own undercover investigation, the GAO team was able to purchase and, in some cases, export items useful for building weapons beyond IEDs. These included triggered spark gaps that can be used to detonate nuclear weapons, accelerometers that can be used in “smart bombs,” gyro chips that can steer guided missiles and Infra-Red flags that U.S. soldiers use to identify friendly forces during nighttime combat.

The “IR flags” GAO investigators were able to buy were marked with a covert U.S. flag that could have allowed enemy forces to pass as Americans in the darkness.

“IR flags are currently in use by U.S. military forces to help identify friendly soldiers during nighttime operations,” said the GAO report. “Several of the IR flags we purchased appear as a black material with no identifying markers. However, with the use of U.S. military night-vision technology ... the patches reveal a U.S. flag, and are the same IR flags used on U.S. military combat uniforms. An enemy fighter wearing these IR flags could potentially pass as a friendly service member during a night combat situation, putting U.S. troops at risk. Nevertheless, these items are completely legal to buy and sell within the United States.”

Because U.S. troops now face an opposition with fighting strategies quite diffrerent from what they might have faced in the Cold War, the GAO believes updated export control measures are needed.

“These are Cold War statutes,” Meyer told CNSNews.com. “These acts have been reauthorized in some cases based on what Congress has told us, but there hasn’t been a major overhaul since the Cold War, and definitely not since after September 11th.”

“They [the laws] are designed for a completely different environment than we’re in right now,” Meyer also said.

According to the GAO report, “A comprehensive network of controls and enforcement is necessary to ensure sensitive technology does not make it into the hands of unauthorized individuals.”

The report also said that restricting the sale of the products is more practical than monitoring their exportation once they are sold.

“The key to preventing the illegal export of these sensitive items used in nuclear, IED, and military applications is to stop the attempts to obtain the items at the source, because once sensitive items make it into the hands of terrorists or foreign government agents, the shipment and transport out of the United States is unlikely to be detected,” the report said.