By Flor Blanco and James Bradley (Aug. 7, 2024)
Just nearly one month prior to Democrats’ calls for Joe Biden to step down as the Democratic presidential nominee, he and his administration entered into a 10-year bilateral security agreement with Ukraine. This agreement binds the US to provide material, training, as well as security and defense forces to help Ukraine fulfill the minimal security and military requirements needed to become a member of NATO. The bilateral agreement, which seems to present the establishment of a US war-based industry in Ukraine, was signed upon with only about half of the American public favoring support for Ukraine according to a poll taking in May 2024. Details of the agreement mention a continuation of usage and loss reports of aid and continued access to and transparent reporting for security assets and installments.
One problem with continuing support for Ukraine is that per the Office of Management & Budget (OMB) and GAO) recent audits, the US does not have an acceptable system or process in place to account for the aid sent to Ukraine, making the process of reconciling records for aid difficult.
The issue is simple, If the US does not have a clear record of what was sent then how can Ukraine confirm that all of this aid was received and used appropriately?
The US is adept at implementing advanced technology needed to support robust tracking and to have the IRS send a you a 1099-K form for any electronic payment that you received for $700.00 or greater. Yet, the accounting systems needed to track details of our tax dollars to support foreign aid is subpar, and perhaps ancient. It may require years to update, as mentioned in the OMB audit and will require added details to the report, as mentioned in the GAO audit. It can be reasonable to believe that budget allocations for financial system upgrades could be delayed repeatedly. However, it does bring up the question whether a need to update our financial systems has ever happened in the past and whether the government will respond to this current need.
There are additional requirements that foreign aid must meet, and more requirements outlined in the bilateral security agreement. These include:
- Support of democracy and freedom for former members of the Soviet Union
- Military and security aid cannot be sold, transferred, or leased to another country or international organization and the recipient country has safeguards to
- Military aid given to Ukraine was done due an emergency
- Waiver of military aid can only granted for specific countries, including those aligned with NATO