The Commission on Wartime Contracting estimates that the U.S. has lost at least $31 billion "due to lack of oversight" over the private companies providing national security and support services. Yesterday, the eight-member, bipartisan Commission submitted its last report to Congress and summarized their findings during a press briefing with reporters.
The Commission's co-chairmen wrote in the Washington Post Tuesday that more than $30 billion has been wasted in contracts and grants in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade. Two of the commission's members including co-chair Christopher Shays were guests this morning on the Washington Journal to discuss the panel's findings.
The independent panel's final report identified lessons learned from the past two years of hearings and include recommendations to improve future dealings with private contractors.
According to the Commission's website, "The total spending on contracts and grants in theater since fiscal year 2002 have exceeded $190 billion, and the contractor workforce has at times exceeded 260,000, outnumbering deployed military."
The independent panel has held 25 hearings, participated in more than 1,000 meetings and has previously published two interim reports and five special reports to Congress. Many of the group's findings have indicated a lack of strict oversight in keeping track of the more than 200,000 contractor employees working in Iraq & Afghanistan.
The Commission members include: Michael Thibault and Christopher Shays, co-chairs; Clark Kent Ervin, Grant Green, Robert Henke, Katherine Schinasi, Charles Tiefer, and Dov Zakheim.