General Allen Praises Brown-Ayotte "No Contracting With The Enemy" Measure

Press Release

At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing today, General John Allen, commander of U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan, praised legislation authored by U.S. Senators Scott Brown (R-MA) and Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) aimed at keeping taxpayer dollars out of the hands of America's enemies. Key provisions of the bill were included in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law on January 1, 2012.

During today's hearing, Senator Brown asked General Allen if the legislation was fulfilling its purpose in Afghanistan.

General Allen responded, "Absolutely. The ability to terminate a contract on the spot for misconduct within that contract is very helpful."

After the hearing, Senators Brown and Ayotte said, "In this midst of our fiscal crisis, we cannot afford to waste a single taxpayer dollar. Our legislation has enabled our commanders in Afghanistan to quickly cut off the flow of money when we discover that funds are being diverted to our enemies. Our legislation also allows the Department of Defense to take prompt action to ensure we never work with these individuals and companies again."

The Brown-Ayotte "No Contracting with the Enemy" legislation makes it easier for U.S. contracting officials to void contracts with contractors who funnel taxpayer resources to enemies of the United States. In August 2011, the Commission on Wartime Contracting found that as much as $60 billion of U.S. government contracting funds had been wasted or misspent in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that the second largest source of income for insurgents was U.S. contracting dollars.

During a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in February 2011, then-General David Petraeus highlighted the urgency of legislation that would achieve the goals of the Brown-Ayotte bill, testifying that it was needed "the sooner the better."

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