European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Growing Supply system growing losses leaks in the armed forces invert by William h. Inman United press International each week and each month Al Supply depots red Warui iut bit s Dious Iti Iii  s armed forces lose equipment everything from hand grenades to howitzers in the past 12 months atone spare parts of acc equip non weapons and ammunition of unmeasured Worth and destructive capability have vanished while the Pentagon s  costs the $9,800 wrench and the $7.600 Coffee machine have Boon widely publicized Low have taken Nole of the losses a the other Ena of the pipeline some Ilams mid simply misplaced temporarily loss or slipped off she accounting books in transit irom place to place according to military and outside investigative documents but All Loo much of the inventory me documents indicate was plundered by insiders or subcontractors whose government training helped them subvert automated safeguards. Frankly As Long As we have comp this keeping track o our goods we re probably going to have  5d mice Iel Elliott a criminal invest Cigalor with 1he army s office of Iarj inspector general they arc always vulnerable to Manipula Hon and i m not sure they can Ever truly be  by whatever Means c-4 plastic explosives made to Pentagon specifications Are turn into up in the hands of terrorist organizations including the palestinian Abu Nidal group and others linked to Libya members of right Wing survivalist and paramilitary hate groups including posse comi Tatus and the aryan brotherhood Many of them sex soldiers equip themselves from stolen Small arms and ammunition. Auth Oritis recently toiled a plan by the Neo nazi aryan nations Church to break into several National guard armoires in the Northwest and Arm ils troops for a race War. The Pool of arms and supplies available to these groups is Large one confiscated Texas Arsenal included 1.500 hand grenades and 500 pounds of by explosive a Florida stockpile included u Hundred pounds of c-4 ptas Lic explosive and 60 Claymore mines the army s most effective Anli person Sci mine now favored by coca and marijuana growers Lor protecting then crops the Bureau of alcohol tobacco and firearms reports military Typo explosives have been linked to Al least 445 Domestic bombings in the past decade and the number of cases is on Iho increase rising from 31 in 19831043 in 1984 to 54 in 19b5. The question of course is How do valuable weapons and equipment escape irom a presumably controlled and closed system1 the services insist the r protections Are As Good As any in the private sector belief in acl and that the big inels Are the result of embezzlement by trusted insiders a Dill cull crime to prevent i Don t know How you can prevent thai says maj Philip Soucy. Spokesman for the army the military Supply system is nol a Iree allowing conduit o Ler Fonsus and arms merchants. We account Lor ammunition stringently. We account Lor weapons frankly. The Only Way to make sure thai nobody steals any explosives or ammo is to Stop issuing it Lor training he says and that s line Only it this country never plans to go to  critics of i he system say the Pentagon has never properly accounted for its supplies end thai today s Haemorrhaging is simply the Extension of a problem hat has Enisley Lor years indeed decades As the system got larger so have the losses despite Reform plans and recommend Lions contained in More than 340 inter Goncy government reports dating Back to 1981. The Pentagon does not know from Day to Day How Many bullets How Many spare parts and other items vanish irom its Supply houses. The trouble is nobody wants to be the bean counter says sen. Pete Wilson r-calil., an sex Marine investigating Supply system practices soldiers want to be soldiers not bookkeepers so the duties Are sloughed off irom one person to another and accountability butlers badly within the computerized inventor system Lor instance a Bulfer of electronic safeguards called edits and other controls have been established Lobyock the unauthorized requisition of items and help with the bean counting " but in Case an a c3sg studied by up private individuals and companies have Learned or have been taught by Uncle Sam How to tiptoe around these sometimes cumbersome Security checks and dip directly into supplies a Boston area missile parts Contr actor. Lor instance successfully penetrated the system Lor More than iwo years according in army documents. Now defunct Valeron inc. Ordered More than 6.000 electronic components irom the army which stockpiles components Lor repair and Assembly of items armed out to contractors using unauthorized in House military codes and procedures and the army helped Val tron every step of the Way according to company president Ken Slink. They led me Down the Primrose path he said arguing it was the army that showed him How to subvert lengthy requisition procedures. Then they shot  army investigator Elliott strongly denies the military look advantage of Valeron. In. Leed he says. The reverse was True the company Ana its president have been debarred forbidden to do any future government business Tor a period of years the potential Lor Loreign infiltration has also been starkly demonstrated according to the Justice department an iranian bankrolled smuggling ring used computer generated part numbers and restricted entry codes to break into the Navy Supply system serving Wesl coast Carrier groups. The ring swiped valuable Phoenix missile and f-14 tomcat aircraft parts needed to bolster the Ayatollah Khomeini s Ware Lort against Iraq. Stock pickers an used to inventory some Ham a army depot. Page 14 the stars and stripes