Letter to the Hon. Mark Esper, Secretary of Defense - Duckworth to Esper: Gold Star Families Deserve to Know Whether Any Troop Casualties in Afghanistan Were Connected to Reported Bounty Payments

Letter

Dear Secretary Esper:

I write to follow up on the U.S. Department of Defense's (DoD) disappointing closed briefing provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) on July 1, 2020. DoD provided two witnesses--the Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs and the Deputy Director Politico-Military Affairs, Middle East, Joint Staff J-5--who were unprepared to respond to questions related to the disturbing public reports alleging that the Intelligence Community (IC) assessed that Unit 29155 of the Russian military intelligence service (GRU) offered bounties to Taliban-linked militants for killing U.S. servicemembers deployed to Afghanistan.

It is unacceptable that to date, the Trump administration appears to be ignoring a matter of great importance to Gold Star Family members whose loved ones were killed while serving in Afghanistan: were any U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan connected with the alleged GRU bounty payments to Taliban-linked militants? Gold Star Families deserve an answer to this question. Accordingly, I request that you confirm:

1. Whether DoD is conducting an investigation into U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan to assess whether any U.S. servicemember deaths are related to the alleged Russian bounty program that has been extensively reported on by multiple news organizations;
2. Whether DoD is tracking any concurrent or completed IC investigations into U.S. troop casualties in Afghanistan; and
3. Commit to disclosing the findings of all investigations on this subject with Gold Star Family members, Congress and the American people.

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