State OIG October 2024 Monthly Update

 

Catch up with State OIG! In our October issue:

• Making a Difference
• Spotlight on Success
• Ukraine and Afghanistan Oversight
• Notable Open Recommendation
• New Work Started
• Recommendations Status

• October 2024 State OIG Monthly Update.pdf

Ukraine Response Oversight

 

The Ukraine related activities of the Department of State (Department) and the U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM) are a top oversight priority for the Office of Inspector General (OIG). The complexity, scale, and timing of efforts in response to Russia’s war against Ukraine demand robust oversight. We are leveraging our extensive knowledge of the programs and operations of the Department and USAGM to provide timely oversight of the Ukraine response effort and critical information for Congress and the U.S. taxpayer.  

Multiple federal agencies are responding to the crisis and OIG is coordinating with offices across the inspector general community, including inspector general offices at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). A variety of working groups, comprised of auditors, inspectors, and investigators, are meeting on a regular basis to collaborate and achieve results. 

At OIG, we are deploying our resources, including recent supplemental funding, to target fraud, waste, and abuse in three high-risk areas: 

• Security assistance and coordination
• Non-security assistance (such as humanitarian and economic assistance) and coordination
• Management and operations

State OIG, in association with the DoD and USAID OIGs, recently issued the second Joint Strategic Oversight Plan addressing the Ukraine response. The FY 2024 Joint Strategic Oversight Plan reflects the U.S. government accountability community’s ongoing and planned oversight work related to the Ukraine response as well as Operation Atlantic Resolve, the contingency operation that includes support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. 

The accountability community’s first Joint Strategic Oversight Plan for the Ukraine Response was issued in January 2023. State OIG along with its partners at DoD and USAID OIG subsequently issued a report on the progress of Ukraine response oversight activities in March 2023.

Above are links to our work. Below are links to DoD and USAID inspector general offices as well as additional Ukraine-related oversight information. 

OIG Hotline (English and Ukrainian) and Fraud Awareness posters

UKRAINE and AFGHANISTAN OVERSIGHT 

Audit of the Disposition of Sensitive Security Assets at U.S. Embassies Kabul, Afghanistan, and Kyiv, Ukraine (AUD-GEER25-01) 

In this report, OIG found that Embassy Kabul and Embassy Kyiv faced different challenges that impacted their ability to manage, safeguard, and dispose of sensitive security assets in advance of their respective evacuations. 

• For example, OIG found that 26 percent of Embassy Kabul’s firearms and 63 percent of Embassy Kabul’s armored vehicles were left in Afghanistan. 

OIG also found that the Defensive Equipment and Armored Vehicle Division (DEAV) did not fully and accurately account for sensitive security assets exfiltrated from Embassy Kabul. 

• For example, DEAV prematurely declared some assets as abandoned that were later recovered. This occurred, in part, because the Department did not have a formal requirement to reconcile a post’s assets following a suspension of operations. In addition, the Bureau of Diplomatic Security’s records management practices were not conducive to the timely reconciliation of Kabul’s assets. 

Finally, OIG found that the Department issued a waiver allowing for the transfer of half of Embassy Kyiv’s armored vehicle fleet to the government of Ukraine after the suspension of operations, in February 2022. 

OIG made 12 recommendations that are considered resolved. === Lead Inspector General for Operation Atlantic Resolve I FY 2025 Joint Strategic Oversight Plan 

This annual joint strategic oversight plan describes oversight activities for the U.S. government’s response to Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine and Operation Atlantic Resolve. 

The plan fulfills individual and collective agency responsibilities pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended, and the National Defense Authorization Act of 2024. === FY 2025 

Comprehensive Oversight Plan for Overseas Contingency Operations These are annual plans describing oversight activities for Operation Inherent Resolve and Operation Enduring Sentinel. These plans fulfill our individual and collective agency oversight responsibilities pursuant to the Inspector General Act of 1978, as amended. 

We will issue a separate plan for Operation Atlantic Resolve, which includes assistance to Ukraine.

 OIG MONTHLY UPDATE October 2024