On Wednesday, Pentagon Comptroller Mike McCord revealed that the Department of Defense had failed its sixth audit in a row, with no significant improvements over the last year.
“We are working hard to address audit findings as well as recommendations from the Government Accountability Office,” McCord said in a statement. “The Components are making good progress resulting in meaningful benefits, but we must do more.”
In a repeat of last year’s audit, just one in four of the Pentagon’s auditing units received a clean bill of financial health, though auditors claimed they made some progress in accounting for the agency’s $3.8 billion in assets. McCord said that a clean audit likely remains years away, according to Reuters.
The Pentagon remains the only federal agency to have never passed an audit. Its failure to make significant progress has drawn scrutiny from lawmakers, including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who called for an independent audit of the department.
“The recent failure of the Pentagon's 6TH audit couldn't make it clearer that we need accountability & transparency,” Paul posted on X. “No institution is above scrutiny, especially the DoD [with] the largest budget of ANY [federal] agency.”
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee also slammed the Pentagon for its financial troubles, arguing in a post on X that the department’s “inability to adequately track assets risks our military readiness and represents a flagrant disregard for taxpayer funds, even as it receives nearly a trillion dollars annually.”
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) said the news showed that it’s “time to stop misdirecting hundreds of billions of dollars away from domestic and human needs to pad unnecessary budget lines for endless wars, failed weapons, & the Pentagon’s corporate handouts.”
The news could reinvigorate efforts to impose a 1 percent budget cut on any parts of the military that fail an audit, a policy that would “provide a much greater incentive to get financial books in order,” according to Jennifer Knox of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
“[T]his isn’t just a matter of clean accounting; it’s a matter of security,” Knox argued. “Ensuring that defense dollars are spent effectively and appropriately will improve performance while reducing spending.”
Connor Echols is a reporter for Responsible Statecraft. He was previously an associate editor at the Nonzero Foundation, where he co-wrote a weekly foreign policy newsletter. Echols received his bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, where he studied journalism and Middle East and North African Studies.
Palesitinians leave Khan Yunis towards safer areas in Rafah following the directives of the Israeli army, instructing residents of the Hamad area to vacate their homes and proceed towards Rafah, near the border with Egypt, 03/04/2024 via Reuters
Israel has begun launching airstrikes in Rafah ahead of a likely invasion of the city, where more than 1.5 million Gazans have taken shelter in camps near the border with Egypt.
The airstrikes came just hours after the Israeli government told Palestinians to flee the city, a demand that aid groups fear will worsen the already dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where famine has begun to take hold. The European Union’s foreign policy chief called the evacuation order “unacceptable.”
The apparent decision to invade Rafah comes as ceasefire talks broke down over the weekend. Israel says the logjam came after an alleged Hamas attack on Israeli soldiers at the Kerem Shalom crossing, while Hamas blamed the breakdown on Israel’s decision to start evacuations of Rafah.
The possibility of an Israeli assault in Rafah puts President Joe Biden in a precarious position. The White House has already found itself at odds with many Democrats due to Biden’s refusal to break with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his deadly campaign in Gaza. A bloody escalation of the war would further divide his party and ratchet up pressure to do something to stop Israel’s campaign.
Biden may have already internalized that message. On Friday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that, absent a credible plan to protect civilians, “we can’t support a major military operation going into Rafah because the damage it would do is beyond what’s acceptable.”
But the Biden administration has consistently balked at opportunities to hold Israel accountable for alleged war crimes and human rights abuses. Just last week, the White House walked back a threat to restrict weapons transfers to certain Israeli units due to “gross violations of human rights.”
A new chance to restrict arms sales could come Wednesday of this week, when the Biden administration will issue a mandatory report to Congress evaluating Israel’s assurances that it won’t use American weapons in ways that violate U.S. and international laws.
An independent analysis from legal experts and former State Department officials found numerous attacks that should have already triggered a cutoff in U.S. support. And nearly 90 House Democrats signed a letter last week calling on the administration to suspend certain weapons transfers to Israel.
A key question is whether a Rafah invasion will further restrict the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid. Experts say Israel has already violated U.S. law stipulating that Washington will not give weapons to countries that block American aid transfers, and a Rafah invasion would likely lead to further violations.
There is also significant doubt surrounding Israeli assurances that its operation will minimize harm to civilians. Those who are now fleeing Rafah will reportedly have to evacuate to nearby Khan Younis and al-Mawasi, neither of which has the capacity to receive incoming displaced people or provide them with much-needed aid.
It’s unclear how many Gazans will be able to escape before the full-scale assault begins. Israel’s previous actions suggest that its tolerance for killing civilians is higher than that of that of the Biden administration.
Biden will have a chance to impart that message later today, when he will reportedly speak with Netanyahu and presumably urge the Israeli leader to change course. But the question remains: Is the Biden administration finally ready to publicly break with Israel?
Providing funds towards artillery and munitions development, replenishing defense systems, and Gaza aid, the package also includes $1.2 billion towards Israel’s sci-fiesque “Iron Beam” laser weapon, a prospective directed energy system for air defense.
Once operational, Iron Beam’s systems appear slated to revolutionize Israel’s defense capacities, escalate the ongoing crisis in Gaza and already boiling tensions in the Middle East, and normalize lasers’ use in warfare as efforts towards directed energy weapons (DEWs) intensify. What’s more, the U.S. seems interested in procuring Iron Beam and adjacent technologies to its own ends, perhaps facilitating DEWs’ further future proliferation.
What is Iron Beam?
A prospective successor to Israel’s “Iron Dome” missile defense system, which launches missiles to intercept and shoot down incoming threats within Israeli borders, Iron Beam is a directed energy system that neutralizes or brings down incoming projectiles with a fiber laser.
"[Iron Beam] is a game-changer because we cannot only strike the enemy militarily but also weaken it economically," former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett remarked back in 2022, explaining that with Iron Beam, “[Israel’s adversaries can] invest tens of thousands of dollars in a rocket and we can invest two dollars to cover the cost of the electricity in shooting down the rocket."
Bad weather can blunt the system’s effectiveness, however, which means Iron Beam is perhaps best used in tandem with the Iron Dome system for comprehensive air defense.
Aware of their potential, a number of countries are developing DEWs. The UK recently tested its “DragonFire” laser weapon, which reportedly can hit a coin from a kilometer away. And Russia’s Peresvet laser system, designed to disable or “blind” high-altitude spacecraft, like satellites, and the Zadira laser system, which can shoot down drones, further, are being tested on Ukraine’s battlefields.
Likewise, the U.S. spends about $1 billion annually to develop laser and adjacent directed energy weaponry. Notably, the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office is overseeing an Indirect Fire Protection Capability-High Energy Laser prototype program, awarding Lockheed Martin with a contract for the project in October 2023. Once operational, the laser is designed to counter or neutralize rockets, artillery, mortars and other projectiles hostile to warfighters in tandem with a military’s other defense components.
Ultimately, DEWs offer a cheap, accurate solution for militaries looking to counter drones and other aerial threats. But their destructive capacities, where Iron Beam’s lasers are able to neutralize and destroy many projectiles with a simple laser fire, are clear and contribute to an ever more perilous future for warfare.
Military aid to Israel accelerates DEW proliferation
Iron Beam’s pending operationality, whose deployment is reportedly being expedited by manufacturer Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, poses heightened dangers within the context of Israel’s ongoing destruction of the Gaza Strip. Although Iron Beam was created for defensive purposes, Israel could plausibly repurpose its lasers as offensive purposes. Indeed, Israel has previously utilized other controversial and experimental weapons systems in Gaza, such as its new AI-powered Gospel and Lavender systems for military targeting.
Meanwhile, just as the U.S. had purchased batteries for Israel’s Iron Dome in the past (after October 7, it leased the two Iron Dome missile systems it purchased back to Israel), the U.S. is considering procuring Iron Beam for itself, suggesting that U.S. military aid to Israel is not only about assisting an ally, but also about expanding and upping U.S. military capacities.
Ultimately, U.S. military aid to Israel enables and exacerbates its campaign against the Palestinian people while fueling prospects for greater conflict in the region. When applied towards projects like Iron Beam, moreover, such funds assist the introduction and normalization of consequential and destructive weapons systems within military contexts without substantive public debate.
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President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Shutterstock/ Mustafa Kirazli) and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Salty View/Shutterstock)
Turkey recently suspended trade with Israel because of the “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in Gaza.
Ankara says it will resume trade if Israel permits an “uninterrupted and sufficient flow” of aid into the enclave. Predictably, Israel’s chief diplomat, Israel Katz, accused Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of behaving like a “dictator” while “disregarding the interests of the Turkish people and businessmen and ignoring international trade agreements.” Hamas unsurprisingly praised Turkey.
Tensions between Turkey and Israel have soared at various points in recent decades, such as the 2009 Davos Summit and the 2010 Gaza flotilla raid. Yet, until now, Turkish-Israeli economic relations always weathered those storms. Therefore, Turkey halting trade with Israel this month is a big deal.
“Since mid-October last year, when President Erdogan stepped up his sharp criticism of Israel’s attack on civilians in Gaza, trade has been the one element of the two countries’ relationship that has remained positive. Now that Turkey has cut off all trade with Israel, that positive element is gone,” Matthew Bryza, the former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe and Eurasia, told RS.
“Erdogan appears to be breaking with tradition in taking a holistic approach to ties with Israel. In previous crises, trade relations always remained distinct from strained political ties. Now, the government appears not to be concerned with escalation on all fronts,” said Batu Coşkun, a political analyst who specializes in Turkish affairs at the Sadeq Institute, in an interview with RS.
According to Murat Aslan, a faculty member at Hasan Kalyoncu University and a researcher at the SETA Foundation, Turkey has cards it can play if it seeks to increase pressure on Israel beyond suspending trade. These include encouraging other countries to join Turkey in imposing embargos on Israel and closing Turkish airspace to Israeli flights. “We have to wait and see [if Turkey takes] these steps, but I know that there are [many] options,” said Aslan.
Domestic pressures and mounting tension
Turkey’s domestic politics must be considered. At an earlier stage in the Gaza war, segments of Turkish society started pressuring Erdogan’s government to take concrete steps against Tel Aviv beyond strong rhetoric. A few weeks ago, Turkey curbed trade with Israel in 54 areas, including steel, fertilizer, and jet fuel.
In the lead up to last month’s municipal elections, there were calls for severing all trade with Israel, which resonated with many of Erdogan’s constituents. As a result, a fair share of Erdogan’s traditional supporters either refused to vote, or they supported the New Welfare Party, an Islamist party that campaigned on opposing the government’s policy of permitting continued trade with Israel amid the Gaza war.
Now, in deciding to halt Turkish trade with Israel, “Erdogan appears to be reacting to retain his popularity,” according to Coşkun. “This means that the president is likely to continue escalating rhetoric, which means more tension in ties with Israel.”
The economic impact
Israel has long maintained robust trade, investment, and commercial relations with Turkey. In 2023, bilateral trade stood at roughly $7 billion. Zorlu Holding, a Turkish conglomerate, is a major investor in Israel’s economy, and Turkish construction companies have made lots of money in Israel over the years. It can be taken for granted that construction costs will increase in Israel, and there will be inflationary effects due to Ankara’s decision to halt trade.
But, for the time being, it is less than clear how much harm the Turkish embargo will inflict on Israel’s economy, and how long the harm will last. Countries can adapt when their trade relations are interrupted or sanctions are imposed. Russia adjusting its trade routes and supply chains after the West waged financial warfare against Moscow in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 is an example. Similarly, Israeli policymakers are now busy trying to assess what damage will likely be inflicted on their economy and how to adjust to offset the effects of Turkey’s embargo.
Additionally, Turkey’s economy will take a hit too. This was a major reason why Ankara did not implement the embargo sooner. There is widespread support across Turkey’s political spectrum for the Palestinians, but also a debate over how much of a price the nation should pay to support Gaza.
“It will definitely harm the Israeli economy in unprecedented ways given the internal situation in Israel and the Houthis’ measures at the entrance of the Red Sea,” said Ali Bakir, an assistant professor at Qatar University’s Ibn Khaldon Center and nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council's Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative, in an interview with RS.
“Having said this, it will also harm the Turkish economy, which is already struggling and is being adjusted to recover,” Bakir added, noting that regional governments that are afraid of taking such financial risks should step up to help those, like Turkey, that are willing to do so.
Azerbaijani oil
The impact of Turkey’s actions on Azerbaijan and, more specifically, its oil exports to Israel will matter. Azerbaijani oil goes through the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline and then on to Israel via tanker. If Ankara would stop allowing Azerbaijan to export oil to Israel through the Ceyhan port, Israel’s economy could greatly suffer.
“It’s not clear at this point whether or not Turkey will cut off those flows of [Azerbaijani] oil…to Israel. Were that to be the case, that could have a more significant impact on Israel’s economy as the economy adjusts to having to find new supplies,” said Bryza, who also served as U.S. ambassador to Azerbaijan.
He noted that Israel has long-term energy contracts with Azerbaijan, and it would have to pay much more for oil if bought on the spot market.
“If Turkey halts this flow…then Israel has to find another source for energy. Otherwise, they will be in trouble,” added Aslan.
Nonetheless, given the nature of the Ankara-Baku alliance, Turkey may refrain from taking this action. “I would be surprised if Turkey were to cut off flows of Azerbaijani oil through and from the Turkish port of Ceyhan to Israel because that would also damage the interests of Azerbaijan,” said Bryza. “Turkey and Azerbaijan have the closest of bilateral relationships with the cliche describing that relationship, they are ‘one nation and two states.’”
Will others follow Turkey in halting trade with Israel?
Turkey’s suspension of bilateral trade will inevitably harm the Israeli economy, at least in the near-term. This will be an additional cost that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, and Israel as a country will have to pay for its crimes against the civilians of Gaza.
However, if Turkey is alone in imposing an embargo on Israel, the economic harm inflicted on Israel could be limited. What needs to be considered is the possibility of other countries following Ankara’s lead, which could make Israel’s economic challenges more serious.
Turkey’s decision will certainly be welcome by Arab citizens across the Middle East and North Africa. They will likely point to Ankara’s embargo on Israel as an example of how Muslim countries should deal with Israel and call on their governments to follow suit. Whether those governments will do so, however, is another question.