European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 2, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ory the conspiracy look place Between 1981 and 1965. St the Navy More than $10 million in tool parts and 19 nol discovered by the military. But by . Us oms and the Fri. The Navy s computers and Ilc Kup financial controls tailed to pick up whal Ope is by was one of the most damaging breaches of Supply Jcu Rity in Tho nation s history instead of buying arms irom he Lack Market or of Neutral countries Iran was ordering through Navy ploy yes specific parts Tor specific weapons directly of . Supply  said an investigator Wilh the general accounting office the auditing Arm of ingress that s just not supposed to happen " an air Force report identifies Libya. Iran and Vietnam � prime suspects among countries seeking to steal tap onry. Parts and technical data there was evidence to support the potential Stence of highly organized theft rings motivated by 00 buying Power of unfriendly countries with us weapons systems it says. Up s findings based on a months Long inquiry and pro Borales by specialists Iii. 9 a directory of computer accuse codes termed Wys to the Supply system by he Gao showed still / Tive codes for a Nyber of organic Lions that Are no Vojer authorized to use them. These include a Texas Jaconi actor debarred from new military business for teed bribery and a defunct 1977 presidential aug ural committee. F a Secrel study conducted by tha air Force office the inspector general acknowledges that Well versed insiders can order virtually any item from military stores Ive it delivered anywhere in the world and even it the ass is discovered escape identification 1 Supply computers Are regularly logged on and led is derided at air Force bases. Computer detectives identified More than 160 stances in which contractors including Lockheed Georgia Norden and Tel Edyne. Bypassed protective Lle guards in requisitioning supplies according to the army roughly 20 million Supply Miqu Silion Bills remain unpaid after a period of 210 ays increasing the Chance Lor undiscovered theft. Millions of requisitions pour in each Day via a neuter says Elliott and our people can t Check mall despite whal regulations might say. The first t of our Supply people is to till requisitions not look x breaches in Security or bad computer  when items Are thought to be missing As reflected in ii Velory variances loss or gain adjustment the. Tillary is supposed to run a causative research Jileck in other words Chase Down the missing Parl 4 find of Why it disappeared. Unfortunately Many apply officers cannot even begin the chore. Spot instance the san Antonio air logistics Center the of the air Force s principal Supply distribution inns could not determine reasons behind 52 percent r j nearly 14.000 major inventory variances Over a period j months according to the Gao. A in addition the army could nol determine the amount .5 ammunition and explosives lost or stolen based on " Wren records and practices which rely to a great Gree on individual Trust. The actual toss of in munition and explosives cannot be determined at a Fataua Lions the army inspector s office concluded. N Many cases overburdened Supply officers simply Iven t the time to track Down two Bil items or nol so Jit items. In a Tetter obtained by Dpi a gs-5 rank in Vil seek West Germany describes her rebuffed pts to report a missing million Dollar guided " and self propelled howitzer to authorities in the � Anny training come. Ii was no big thing he Cle a said she was told by superiors. When i triad to do my Job and keep rate records i was called a  so she to Ped the investigation. A tin army training come spokesman told the and stripes oct. 17 that information did surface of Imaleta four years ago alleging these two were unaccounted for. A Sec. Gil High said the information was turned Over to Check and but Nett which 911 in Hwy emt Bra let and in tract fee. Is Rowlo by out Michuel agents of the criminal investigation come in Heidelberg. The allegations were determined to be unfounded Al thai Lime he said adding that the command received word that the Case had been closed. Details were not forwarded to the command from Cid High said. There is no uniformed person Here now who was Here then High said Navy adm. James service commander of the Pacific Fleet s naval air operations Lold Supply system investigators in interviews earlier this year it is abundantly Clear thai if material is being stolen from the storerooms the shipboard computer accounting system cannot detect it and was never designed to do  instead of trying to track specific losses As a corporation might. Military inventory keepers Are forced to compute the total volume of computer adjustments reflecting the Lump sum of both losses and gains to come up Wilh something called total  in fiscal 1985, according to the Gao reported inventory adjust meals for wholesale Pentagon assets amounted to roughly 12 billion. When the reversals of prior adjust meals were figured into the total the turbulence Rose to $3.7 billion. According to Gao figures some disputed by the Pentagon Book balancing adjustments were made last year on 9 percent of fhe military s entire inventory. There is no Way of knowing precisely How much of that 9 percent represents actual losses or huhs. Tha office of the Secretary of defense estimates thai the losses or inventory shrinkage come to roughly Hall thai experienced by private Industry based on private Industry formulas whal is known however is thai the military s electronic safeguards designed to prevent unauthorized intrusions and improve accountability have been Short circuited. One Way of doing thai involves exception codes when Vandenburg fab. Lor instance ordered a Large number of items irom its Texas Central Supply base recently its requisitions were coded "6f," which meant Vandenburg was not obligated to account for where every piece of equipment went. However when 1he Supply Center in san Antonio asked Lor a general its of the items for its own records showing such things As Slock numbers and quantities obtained Vandenburg had to demur. The information was simply unavailable. It seems Vandenburg had turned the material and with in All accounting records Over to a private contractor according to Gao findings. In addition although "6f" exceptions were meant to be sparingly used investigators found he san Antonio base had Given out $8.5 million in equipment under the provision a huge volume relative la total requisitions. The 6f exception system erases visibility control and accountability Lor the equipment item the Gao contends. Air Force officials disagree and say accountability is or. At least should be maintained is the base level. Another Short circuiting technique involves Dod activity address codes or Doda acs pronounced Doh Dacks. These six Digil codes Are employed by All agencies and organizations military and non military authorized to use government furnished equipment the computer code system was meant to reduce paperwork and tighten controls. Unfortunately the automated concept has its failings. Arms smugglers in the Kitty Hawk affair Lor instance used Dod Access codes and other inside Inlo Malion to foil safeguards a number of organizations still hold valid Doda acs which give requisition officers an in the Clear or authorized address to Send material even though these organizations no longer have any reason to order new government furnished material for instance two Doda acs remained Active for Alamo aircraft of san Antonio a s2b-million-a-year air Rall parts contractor to service its old con races. Although the company had been debarred from new business for allegedly bribing a government Engineer. Not Only Are the do Saacs valid but they were accidentally used to Send parts of a front line air Rall to Alamo company officials told Dpi in some cases organizations which established codes forge to pull them out when conditions or contracts change. " they Are supposed to notify whomever their service Point is for them and say we re being disestablished away with the code " explains Isabel Birk action officer Lor the defense logistics Agency which provides supplies to All services. But they forget to do those  purging outdated code will not fix the system. Problems go deeper. They go beyond official policy which does exist bul often is executed poorly. They go to the heart of the system to the management of Complex computer networks and to the Quality of personnel training. We be largely replaced the experienced Guys who used logo around the warehouse kicking boxes and checking items off a Tisl i. Sen Joe Heiser retired chief of army logistics told up. Now men sit in chairs Wilh their computers and push buttons. " but a computer can l Tell you what s inside a Box or what s been stolen from a shelf. In fact a computer can be made to do and say just about anything. It can disguise fraud and help you avoid proper documentation. Computers should contain better controls that raise a Flag when something is amiss so that the requisition can be Eye balled by a human  the system itself is not bad nor the people who run it say 3 Elliott. It has just simply gotten too big to process All the material in has to process. The Cheeks and balances which exist in theory cannot be maintained in  the stars and stripes Page 1s