WASHINGTON, November 14 (Sputnik) — The US Department of Defense (DOD) program of the excess military equipment's transfer to law enforcement agencies named a doubtful figure of missing weapons, as some of them could be given away, Georgia Congressman Hank Johnson told Sputnik Friday.
“I don’t trust the figures as to the inventory of equipment that is missing,” Johnson said citing figures given by the Department of Defense Director of the Defense Logistics Agency.
If the missing equipment is not in the possession of the law enforcement agency that was supposed to receive it, “chances are it’s been conveyed, perhaps given away or sold out the back door, to someone. We [the United States] need some limits on this kind of equipment," according to Johnson.
There are 421 weapons missing, director of the DOD Defense Logistics Agency Mark Harnitchek told the Congress on November 13.
The weapons that are missing include automatic and semiautomatic rifles as well as high caliber handguns. None of the missing weapons have turned up in a crime scene, Harnitchek said.
There is a history of law enforcement officials selling military-grade weapons transferred under the 1033 program, explained Harnitchek.
According to him, “it wouldn’t surprise” him if police officers were selling Humvees (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle), or high mobility vehicles issued under the 1033 program, which is entirely possible when “there are that many vehicles out there.”
The Thursday hearing was the first time the House of Representatives discussed the 1033 program which came under public scrutiny during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri this past summer when a young African-American was killed by a police officer.
The 1033 Program is part of the US Disposition Services dedicated to weapons' reutilization and transfer to other federal agencies. Since the 1033 program’s launch in 1997, over $5.1 billion worth of property has been transferred from the DOD to local law enforcement.
