A bipartisan group of representatives including reps. Paul Gosar and Kyrsten Sinema called on Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter to implement new reforms aimed at preventing millions of dollars being misused by Department of Defense (DoD) personnel on government travel credit cards. An August 2016 Inspector General (IG) Report found that DoD failed to take appropriate actions to resolve the issues highlighted by the previous audit.
The audit was conducted in response to a request on May 27, 2015, from the Senate Committee on Armed Services.
In the audit report, DoD Officials Did Not Take Appropriate Action When Notified of Potential Travel Card Misuse at Casinos and Adult Entertainment Establishments, the IG found:
• DoD management did not take action to eliminate additional misuse;
• DoD management did not initiate travel voucher reviews for cardholders with travel card personal use to determine whether there were improper payments;
specifically, 22 of 29 cardholders (1 cardholder did not have travel vouchers during the period of review) sought and received reimbursements on 131 vouchers totaling $8,544 that directly reimbursed or indirectly may have reimbursed the cardholder’s personal use of the travel card; and
• DoD management did not consistently consider the security implications of improper personal use of the travel card; specifically, only 2 of 30 cardholders (5 cardholders did not have security clearances) were reported to the appropriate adjudicative facility prior to this audit. This occurred because Defense Travel Management Office officials and DoD management for the 30 selected cardholders did not emphasize proper use of the travel card, and DoD policy did not sufficiently specify what actions DoD officials should take when misuse was identified. As a result, the travel card program remained vulnerable to continued misuse;
• DoD had less money available for legitimate travel expenses because of the travel overpayments;
• DoD experienced potential national security vulnerabilities due to the untimely reporting or non‑reporting of derogatory information regarding
misuse of Government travel cards to the DoD Consolidated Adjudications Facility, resulting in the delay or lack of adjudication (decision on security
clearance eligibility) for cleared DoD cardholders with financial concerns or personal conduct issues; and
• cardholders were not offered assistance for financial concerns and gambling addictions.
Earlier this year, Congressman Gosar submitted a bipartisan language request to the House Appropriations Committee for the fiscal year (FY) 2017 Defense Appropriations bill seeking to retain his rider which prohibits DoD travel card funds from being used for gambling and adult entertainment. This language was identical to the Gosar amendment that was unanimously adopted by the House during FY2016 in the form of H.AMDT.496 and subsequently signed into law.