New reforms target US military's missing weapons problem

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

New reforms target US military’s missing weapons problem

By KRISTIN M. HALL and JUSTIN PRITCHARD
December 21, 2021

The Department of Defense is overhauling how it keeps track of its guns and explosives, and Congress is requiring more accountability from the Pentagon -- responses to an Associated Press investigation that showed lost or stolen military weapons were reaching America’s streets.

The missing weaponry includes assault rifles, machine guns, handguns, armor-piercing grenades, artillery shells, mortars, grenade launchers and plastic explosives.

The Pentagon will now have to give lawmakers an annual report on weapons loss and security under the National Defense Authorization Act, which Congress approved this month and President Joe Biden is expected to sign. As AP’s AWOL Weapons investigation showed, military officials weren’t advising Congress even as guns and explosives continued to disappear.

To meet those reporting requirements, the military is modernizing how it accounts for its millions of firearms and mountains of explosives.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/business-gun-politics-congress-5f45d1be346a8e1e19c6e694aa245d2f