Secretary of Defense James Mattis slammed the Pentagon for wasting $28 million on Afghan army uniforms following the release of an accounting report.
Mattis scolded the Pentagon for “cavalier” purchases of forest-camouflage uniforms that have continued since 2007, despite the fact that only 2 percent of Afghanistan consists of wooded areas, according to a memo obtained by USA Today.
“Cavalier or casually acquiescent decisions to spend taxpayer dollars in an ineffective and wasteful manner are not to recur,” Mattis wrote, relying on the findings of a 17-page Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) report released in late June.
That Mattis accepted the SIGAR report sets him apart from past practices at the DOD of disputing the government watchdog’s findings.
“Buying uniforms for our Afghan partners, and doing so in a way that may have wasted tens of millions of taxpayer dollars over a ten-year period, must not be seen as inconsequential in the grand scheme of...
