After Pressure from McCaskill, Information Crucial to Afghan Oversight is Declassified

Senator highlights importance of oversight, protection of contractors in war zones at Armed Services hearing

WASHINGTON – Weeks after exerting pressure on the Pentagon to declassify previously public information used in progress reports on taxpayer-funded efforts in Afghanistan, U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill today used a Senate hearing to thank General Campbell, Commander of U.S. Forces – Afghanistan, for his commitment to declassifying large portions of the reports, and to discuss the importance of protecting U.S. contractors in war zones.

“I think you have worked very hard to reverse some of the confusion that existed around the [Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction] report as to what should and shouldn’t be classified,” said McCaskill, a senior member of the Armed Services Committee. “And I know you’ve taken steps to declassify a wide swath of that information and I think the commitment you made to me that we’ll continue to work on what you feel strongly about in terms of… data that could in fact put people at risk if it were continued to be unclassified, I just want to thank you for your attention to that. I think you understand that the oversight is important, and I think you also are very cognizant of the risks associated with some of that data getting into the wrong hands.”

McCaskill, the top Democrat on the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, recently slammed the Pentagon’s decision to classify the previously publicly available information, and questioned Defense Secretary nominee Dr. Ashton Carter about the decision at his confirmation hearing.

McCaskill previously led a successful effort to end hundreds of millions in taxpayer spending on unsustainable overseas projects, and last year’s annual defense bill included McCaskill’s plan to prohibit taxpayer funding from use by the Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund, and to prohibit unsustainable projects that cannot be overseen by American personnel.

McCaskill discussed the need to protect U.S. contractors in Afghanistan, saying: “We put into last year’s National Defense Authorization a prohibition against funding any projects that we cannot inspect because of security reasons. And I want to get your take on where we are in terms of protection of the contracting force. We’ve got contractors that are going to have to maintain some of these systems because Afghanistan’s not ready to, and they don’t have the technical capability of maintaining some of what we have equipped them with. Contractors are going to be a reality in that space for a long time, and I think we need to discuss that protection—not just force protection, but contractor protection.

General Campbell responded, “I absolutely concur with you that force protection both for our servicemen and women, and our contractors, and other civilians in Afghanistan is utmost on my mind.”

McCaskill yesterday met one-on-one with General Campbell ahead of today’s hearing to discuss his commitment to declassifying large portions of the previously available Afghan infrastructure reports, and the current mission in Afghanistan. Photos of the meeting can be found HERE.

McCaskill also used today’s hearing to highlight the use of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility as a recruiting tool for the group calling itself the Islamic State, and other worldwide terrorists groups seeking to harm American interests.

Visit mccaskill.senate.gov/accountability to learn more about McCaskill’s fight to strengthen accountability in Washington.

After Pressure from McCaskill, Information Crucial to Afghan Oversight is Declassified