Weapons Bazaar
This Cobra attack helicopter was built from surplus parts. The Pentagon sells millions of them a year. Many fall into the wrong hands.
They also said some fixes are in the works. One of their main goals, the officials say, is to set up a centralized demilitarization code office, which will assign and control all the codes, and try to enforce them. The first step toward that, they say, should occur next year. Investigations underway at two Pentagon museums could also result in tightening of the current rules allowing bartering of government aircraft for a variety of services.
If those steps happen as planned, they will clearly result in some improvement, but the problem is so great that it is difficult to say what real effect they might have. "The scope of this program and the amount of materiel going out the door is so huge, people normally don't believe you," says Portanova, the assistant U.S. attorney in Sacramento. "Only the government could have a program where they give everything away for free and they screw it up."
How codes control weapon sales 1. "Demil code" assigned. All items and their parts in the U.S. military inventory are assigned demilitarization (demil) code letters when they are purchased. The demil code determines what must be done to the item before it can be donated or sold to the public. The demil codes on weapons and parts are generally overseen by the military services. 2. Item sent to surplus. Excess or outdated weapons and parts go into the surplus sales system. They are first offered to other government agencies and museums, then are sold at auction to the public. 3. The codes. An item's demil code should dictate the condition in which it is sold. Here are the possibilities: CODE: A NO DEMIL. Items are sold "as is" to the public. CODE: B NO DEMIL IN THE U.S. License is needed to ship or sell overseas CODE: C KEY POINT DEMIL. Sensitive parts are removed; remaining item may be usable. CODE: D TOTAL DEMIL. Item must be destroyed and sold only as scrap. CODE: P CLASSIFIED ITEM. Classified parts must be removed or item destroyed.
USN&WR--Basic data: Defense Department's Defense Demilitarization Manual
advertisement
