LiveWire

A post by Pat

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Study: Fake military parts on the rise

Already heavily taxed by two wars and repeated worldwide deployments, the U.S. military is facing yet another challenge: the increasing intrusion of counterfeit electronics and other parts into its supply lines.

And a new Commerce Department study finds the Pentagon is barely addressing the problem.

When it literally comes down to the nuts and bolts or electronic parts, the Federal mega-bureaucracy is vulnerable. The Navy Air Systems Command asked for a Commerce Dept. study to track counterfeit electronics coming in from Defense Dept. contractors and found a growing trend over a three year period. The study revealed a flawed system and a lack of accountability. The Pentagon has virtually no policies in place to deal with counterfeit parts.

“There is an assumption that others in the supply chain are testing parts. Organizations within every sector rely on others in the supply chain to test and verify the authenticity of parts and, therefore, conduct little testing themselves,” the report said. “Based on survey data, this confidence in the testing behaviors of the supply chain is unfounded.”

It’s a problem that affects the entire federal government.

One industry official said the problem isn’t limited to electronics. Foreign suppliers using substandard materials could be producing rivets, bolts and screws that hold together everything from missile casings to ship ladders.

“If we make it, they can fake it,” the official said.

The Defense Dept. disputes the Commerce Dept. study insisting they do have measures in place to detect counterfeit parts. The Defense Logistics Agency says they do testing.

“When these studies and tests have identified incidents of counterfeit parts, those parts are extracted from the system, documented, analyzed, and the appropriate actions are taken quickly,” [Pentagon spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Wendy Snyder ]said. “The department has not found any cases where counterfeit parts have caused failure of DoD missions, equipment or placed our troops at risk.”

I hope so. There appears to be too much trust in contractors once they win approval. Whether dealing with unscrupulous businesses or mortal enemies, there is nothing too small that can be overlooked to protect our military capability.