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GAO-13-185R 1 (2012-12-19)

handle is hein.gao/gaobacgtv0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Accountabiliy - Integrity - Reliability United States Government Accountability Office Washington, DC 20548 December 19, 2012 Congressional Committees Subject: Afghanistan Drawdown Preparations: DOD Decision Makers Need Additional Analyses to Determine Costs and Benefits of Returning Excess Equipment In June 2011, the United States announced plans to reduce the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The remaining U.S. forces will work to support the U.S. objective of a transition to Afghan-led security by December 2014. The Department of Defense (DOD) has begun planning for this reduction and, as part of its planning, has identified more than 750,000 major end items-equipment important to operational readiness to support the combat forces, such as weapons and vehicles-that can be returned from Afghanistan (to DOD inventories), transferred to another U.S. government agency or another country, or destroyed in theater.1 According to DOD, this equipment, estimated to be worth more than $36 billion, has accumulated during a 10-year period. DOD officials also estimate that it could cost $5.7 billion to return or transfer equipment from Afghanistan. We initiated this review to provide Congress with information concerning DOD preparations for the drawdown of equipment in Afghanistan, and prepared this report under the Comptroller General's authority to conduct evaluations on his own initiative. We provided a briefing of our preliminary observations to the House Armed Services Committee on October 10, 2012. We also provided this briefing to the Senate Armed Services Committee on October 24, 2012, and to the Senate and House Defense Appropriations Subcommittees on November 14, 2012. This report formally transmits the information developed for that briefing and provides information on the preparations for the Afghanistan drawdown, specifically the extent to which DOD has (1) applied relevant lessons learned from the Iraq drawdown in its planning for equipment reductions in Afghanistan; (2) planned for the reduction of equipment in Afghanistan by establishing command structures and guidance, property accountability, and transportation processes; and (3) considered costs in its planning for equipment reductions in Afghanistan. To determine the extent to which DOD has applied relevant lessons learned from the Iraq drawdown to the Afghanistan drawdown preparations, we reviewed military service documents and GAO products identifying lessons learned in Iraq. We also reviewed DOD preparations for the drawdown of equipment from Afghanistan. To determine the 1 DOD Manual 4160.28, vol. 1, Defense Demilitarization: Program Administration (June 7, 2011). When there is a risk that DOD property could be diverted into the hands of enemies of the United States, it may be necessary to demilitarize or destroy these items. When an item undergoes demilitarization, critical features are removed or destroyed and the item cannot be used for its original purpose. GAO-13-185R Afghanistan Drawdown Preparations

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