Yemeni Military Supplies Recovered in Virginia Warehouse Eight Years Later

Two-hundred parcels worth of Yemeni military supplies — including night-vision devices, batteries and now-expired medical kits — were recently recovered in a Virginia warehouse, according to a report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office.

The supplies were purchased using U.S. government-funded Foreign Military Financing (FMF) grants, according to the report, for the purposes of supporting Yemeni security forces against potential attacks by al Queda.

The purchase was reportedly made in 2007, but the supplies never left the private Virginia warehouse.

The reason the items never left the U.S. dates back to a broken relationship between Yemen and its commercial freight carrier.

As permitted under the FMF program, Yemen chose to use contracted commercial freight forwarders to arrange for shipment of these articles to Yemen,” reads the GAO report. “The government of Yemen took ownership of the equipment upon delivery to its contracted freight forwarder. In April 2008, the contract between the government of Yemen and this freight forwarder ended. In August 2008, the equipment was transferred to the Virginia warehouse of another freight forwarder contracted by the government of Yemen. From 2008 to 2010, Yemen did not pay or made late payments to this freight forwarder.

“In 2010 and 2011 equipment continued to accumulate at the freight forwarder’s warehouse as political unrest prevented shipments to Yemen. The Department of Defense (DOD) convinced the freight forwarder to waive storage fees accumulated during this period. Once holds on shipments were lifted in 2012, disagreements between Yemen and its freight forwarder resumed. In fiscal year 2012, Yemen began paying the U.S. military to ship newly funded FMF equipment and no longer used its own commercial freight forwarder.

Three years after dropping its commercial forwarder, the items were recovered, although many of the items are not expired or obsolete.

The GAO report also notes that it was unable to assess all of the recovered equipment because ultimately it is Yemeni property and is an issue between Yemen and the commercial shipping company with which it once had a contract.

“The U.S.has no legal obligation on our end,” Charles Johnson, GAO Director of International Affairs and Trade, told the Washington Post. “Though it is taxpayers dollars.”

The Department of Defense is in discussion with the Yemeni embassy in an effort to determine how to handle the equipment moving forward.

Image credit: Department of Defense