AEY Official Admitted Termite-Damaged Ammo Was No Good

The House oversight committee hearing on AEY’s now terminated $300 million Pentagon contract to supply ammo to the Afghanistan national police and army has just wrapped up. The Washington Independent is now dutifully going through an unbelievable committee report on the contract.

The report doesn’t look favorably on AEY and its 22-year-old president Efraim Diveroli. But, it does show that once in a while AEY officials knew when they had made a mistake.

The Pentagon found earlier this year that AEY had sent crates of rifle cartridges to Afghanistan that had “disintegrated from extensive termite damage.” Some of the ammunition was more than 60 years old. Asked by the Pentagon what happened, an unidentified AEY official admitted that he had delivered “shit ammo” to Afghanistan security forces.

AEY was the principle weapons supplier for security forces fighting Al Qaeda and the Taliban. With such a critical role, it’s good they acknowledged their mistake.