CORRUPTION IN CONFLICT

Recommendations

Info

This legislation should: • Require federal agencies (i.e., DOD, State, USAID, and others) to develop an interagency anticorruption strategy for a contingency operation and provide it to Congress. • Require the Executive Branch to establish and enforce clear, measurable anticorruption benchmarks as a regular condition for the disbursement of reconstruction assistance. • Mandate annual reporting to Congress on the implementation and effectiveness of the anticorruption strategy and on the need for any adjustments. 2. Congress should consider enacting legislation that authorizes sanctions against foreign government officials or their associates who engage in corruption. This legislation should: • Authorize the President to impose U.S. entry and property sanctions against any foreign government official or senior individual associated with the official who is responsible for, or complicit in, corrupt activities. • Require annual reporting by the President to Congress on each foreign person sanctioned, the type of sanctions imposed, the reason for their imposition, and a description of any facts that warrant suspension of sanctions. 3. Congress should consider requiring DOD, State, USAID, and other relevant executive agencies to establish a joint vendor vetting unit or other collaborative effort at the onset of any contingency operation to better vet contractors and subcontractors in the field. Such legislation should: • Authorize a head of contracting activity (HCA) or the Chief of Mission to restrict, terminate, or void a contract, grant, or cooperative agreement with an entity or individual determined to be engaged in corrupt activities that threaten U.S. national security interests. • Require that intelligence analyses of corrupt patronage networks inform decisions to exclude individuals and entities from eligibility for the award of contracts. • Provide personnel with adequate access to the classified systems and other databases used to vet contractors and subcontractors. • Ensure units are staffed sufficiently and have appropriate procedures to avoid bottlenecks in contract management processes. • Recommend that vetting units also coordinate closely with U.S. allies operating in the host country to share information on contractors and subcontractors, and to exclude individuals or businesses that may pose a threat. 82 SIGAR I CORRUPTION IN CONFLICT I SEPTEMBER 2016
Executive Branch Recommendations 4. The NSC should establish an interagency task force to formulate policy and lead strategy on anticorruption in contingency operations. The task force should encourage NSC principals to factor in the threat of corruption when deciding on and planning such missions. It should include representatives from DOD, State, USAID, Treasury, Justice, DHS, and the Intelligence Community, who together will establish anticorruption policy and corruption-related assessment tools and coordinate implementation across agencies. The task force should be led by a senior official appointed by the President, reporting directly to the National Security Advisor. The task force should have a corresponding presence in theater and a budget to meet its staffing and other resource needs. The task force should also engage with outside, independent experts. The task force should: • Establish a policy and implementation framework for addressing the impact of corruption on U.S. national security objectives in conflict zones. • Create a standard assessment tool to be used by agencies in the initial phases of contingency operation planning to evaluate drivers of corruption, the potential for corrupt powerbrokers to capture state functions, the role foreign assistance might play in exacerbating corruption, and the risks to mission goals. • Establish an interagency framework for assessing spending levels, including covert activities, and preventing U.S. aid and procurement dollars from overwhelming a national economy and creating conditions conducive to corruption. • Determine requirements for oversight and control mechanisms that must be in place from the outset to ensure accountability for U.S. expenditures. • Identify diplomatic and other types of leverage to exert influence on or hold accountable corrupt host nationals, including U.S. entry and property sanctions and anti-money-laundering tools. • Recommend budget reforms that would allow more flexible budgeting in contingency environments to reduce “use or lose” pressures to spend money quickly. These reforms may include greater use of multi-year appropriations, more flexible contracting mechanisms, and increased use of multilateral trust funds. • Coordinate and de-conflict intelligence operations with other agencies’ goals and activities in country. • Set priorities for U.S. political and programmatic interventions to advance institutional accountability in such sectors as banking and security. 5. At the onset of any contingency operation, the Intelligence Community should analyze links between host government officials, corruption, criminality, trafficking, and terrorism. This baseline assessment should be updated regularly. SIGAR I CORRUPTION IN CONFLICT I SEPTEMBER 2016 83
Page 1 and 2:
Special Inspector General for Afgha
Page 3 and 4:
Special Inspector General for Afgha
Page 5 and 6:
TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Page 7 and 8:
ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURES FIGURE 1: Sha
Page 9 and 10:
In the early years of the reconstru
Page 11:
Recommendations To address corrupti
Page 14 and 15:
1. Corruption undermined the U.S. m
Page 16 and 17:
large sums of money. For example, a
Page 18 and 19:
Corruption Has Increased from Pre-2
Page 20 and 21:
capacity, legislative and regulator
Page 22 and 23:
dynamic we have to change if we wan
Page 24 and 25:
in corruption. 58 Afghans also witn
Page 27 and 28:
ISAF Public Affairs photo PART ONE
Page 29 and 30:
checkpoints, activities which they
Page 31 and 32:
usinesses that served the internati
Page 33 and 34:
for the long-term threat that corru
Page 35 and 36:
combat corruption globally, which i
Page 37 and 38:
opium when they raided the governor
Page 39 and 40:
measurable benchmarks and target da
Page 41:
While certain individuals and offic
Page 44 and 45: that Afghan leaders were not commit
Page 46 and 47: U.S. government documents increasin
Page 48 and 49: the state’s legitimacy and capabi
Page 50 and 51: and helping to fund the enemy. The
Page 52 and 53: would benefit from an approved stra
Page 54 and 55: fundamental flaw: The Afghan govern
Page 56 and 57: By the time of Salehi’s arrest an
Page 59 and 60: U.S. Marine Corps photo PART THREE
Page 61 and 62: and partners, other countries in th
Page 63 and 64: BOX 2: ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY In the d
Page 65 and 66: Capacity-building efforts would be
Page 67 and 68: “The international community held
Page 69 and 70: success, due in part to unwillingne
Page 71 and 72: ability to conduct robust oversight
Page 73 and 74: The story elicited a sharp congress
Page 75 and 76: London, Kabul, and Tokyo Conference
Page 77 and 78: officials. The task force member no
Page 79 and 80: These cancelled or forestalled cont
Page 81: a desire to tackle corruption and a
Page 84 and 85: These findings underscore that the
Page 87 and 88: LESSONS USAID/Afghanistan photo Bas
Page 89 and 90: eport, international assistance acc
Page 91: in Afghanistan failed to address th
Page 96 and 97: Intelligence agencies should: • C
Page 98 and 99: 10. The State Department should pla
Page 100 and 101: the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, which wa
Page 102 and 103: APPENDIX B ABBREVIATIONS 4A Assista
Page 104 and 105: ODA OECD OEF OSD-P OTI PACC PRT PSC
Page 106 and 107: APPENDIX D Strategy or Plan Assessm
Page 108 and 109: Organization Lead Agency Mandate Hi
Page 110 and 111: APPENDIX F U.S. Support to Afghan G
Page 112 and 113: ENDNOTES 1 Ryan Crocker, SIGAR inte
Page 114 and 115: 34 OECD Development Assistance Coun
Page 116 and 117: 65 Fishstein and Wilder, Winning He
Page 118 and 119: 101 Joint Staff, Joint and Coalitio
Page 120 and 121: 148 Dressler, Counterinsurgency in
Page 122 and 123: 192 NSC, White Paper on the Interag
Page 124 and 125: 235 U.S. Embassy Kabul, “Afghanis
Page 126 and 127: 284 Department of the Treasury, “
Page 128 and 129: Transition to Transformation, July
Page 130 and 131: 368 SIGAR, Quarterly Report to the
Page 132 and 133: 411 Torabi, email to SIGAR, March 5
Page 134 and 135: 463 Congressional Research Service,
Page 136 and 137: 525 U.S. Embassy Kabul, U.S. Govern
Page 138 and 139: 586 U.S. Embassy Kabul, “Update o
Page 140 and 141: 633 DOD, Report on Progress toward
Page 142 and 143: SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY Afghan Research
Page 144 and 145:
Century Foundation. Afghanistan: Ne
Page 146 and 147:
Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Page 148 and 149:
Human Rights Watch. Blood-Stained H
Page 150 and 151:
Koumans, Mark. Testimony before the
Page 152 and 153:
Pritchett, Lant, Michael Woolcock,
Page 154 and 155:
Schmeidl, Susanne. “The Man Who W
Page 156 and 157:
Stanekzai, Mohammad M. “Afghanist
Page 158 and 159:
U.S. Department of State, Office of
Page 160 and 161:
United Nations Development Programm
Page 162 and 163:
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SIGAR acknowledges
Page 164:
SIGAR SPECIAL INSPECTOR GENERAL FOR
show all

CORRUPTION IN CONFLICT

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?