About | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline Law Journal Library | HeinOnline
LOG IN
LOG IN

GAO-25-107475 1 (May 15, 2025)

handle is hein.gao/pstldrnn0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Why This Matters Since fiscal year 2022, the President, with special authority from Congress, has greatly expanded the use of Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) to provide ammunition, missiles, and other defense articles from Department of Defense (DOD) inventories to foreign partners-especially Ukraine. Authorized under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, as amended (FAA), PDA allows the President to respond to U.S. foreign policy and national security objectives by providing assistance that flows from existing resources and up to a ceiling established in law without first seeking additional legislative authority or appropriations from Congress. The President may provide this assistance by ordering the drawdown of articles and services from the inventories and resources of U.S. government agencies, primarily DOD. According to Department of State officials, the President delegated to the Secretary of State the authority to direct DOD to execute PDA packages. DOD's Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) administers and provides guidance for PDA. From December 2021 through January 2025, the President authorized about $31.7 billion in defense articles to Ukraine under PDA. Since 1961, presidents have used PDA numerous times, but the value, volume, and frequency of PDA use for Ukraine since Russia's 2022 invasion is unprecedented. From fiscal years 2022 to 2024, Congress used its authority to raise the yearly ceiling for PDA by billions of dollars. DOD also developed processes to manage the more than $45.8 billion Congress appropriated to replace defense articles provided under PDA to Ukraine. The replacement funding was a part of the five Ukraine supplemental appropriation acts, which provided about $174.2 billion that agencies have allocated for various purposes, including to help combat Russian aggression and to preserve Ukraine's territorial integrity. These adjustments raised questions for DOD as officials worked to quickly transfer a large volume of defense articles. To improve implementation of DOD's defense article transfer process in Ukraine, we previously made recommendations including that DOD improve the accuracy of defense article delivery data and evaluate its end-use monitoring approach. This report is one of several engagements we initiated in response to a provision included in the Consolidated Appropriations, 2023. In addition, a House Report accompanying the Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, 2024, includes a provision for us to review DOD's execution of PDA and related funding and notifications since February 24, 2022. Page 1 GAO-25-107475 Presidential Drawdown Authority Page 1 GAO-25-107475 Presidential Drawdown Authority

What Is HeinOnline?

HeinOnline is a subscription-based resource containing thousands of academic and legal journals from inception; complete coverage of government documents such as U.S. Statutes at Large, U.S. Code, Federal Register, Code of Federal Regulations, U.S. Reports, and much more. Documents are image-based, fully searchable PDFs with the authority of print combined with the accessibility of a user-friendly and powerful database. For more information, request a quote or trial for your organization below.



Contact us for annual subscription options:

Contact Us

Already a HeinOnline Subscriber?

Log In

profiles profiles most