Dov Zakheim, who served as the Pentagon's top financial official until 2004 and helped set up the program, said that while he was at the department, U.S. military officials constantly reviewed whether Pakistan had conducted the missions it claimed in the invoices.
"The payment was issued based on confirmation from the field that they conducted the operation they said they conducted," Zakheim said.
But the lack of detailed accounting has been central to congressional objections. Army Lt. Col. Brian Maka, a Pentagon spokesman, said Congress has 15 days to object to payments made through the Coalition Support Funds. In addition, the Pentagon comptroller's office submits quarterly reports to Congress outlining how much has been spent.
But copies of the reports, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Center of Public Integrity, a Washington-based watchdog group, show that Congress is given only broad descriptions of spending.
Occasionally, specific expenditures are detailed, such as the two-year lease of 26 Bell helicopters in 2003 for $235 million. But most descriptions are more general.
"This payment is based on the bills submitted from the government of Pakistan for the support it provided to U.S. military operations during January through March related to the global war on terrorism," read one typical disclosure, from the August 2004 report.
Menendez, the Democratic senator, said he was concerned that the program might be evading congressional oversight.
"I'm not satisfied we have accountability and transparency," he said. "The question is whether the process itself undermines the oversight of Congress."
peter.spiegel@latimes.com
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Times staff writers Greg Miller and Julian E. Barnes in Washington and Laura King in Islamabad contributed to this report.
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
U.S. aid to Pakistan, 2002-07
* Economic and development aid (most is traditional development funds supervised by USAID): $2.52 billion
* Foreign Military Financing (traditional military aid, grants and loans to acquire weaponry): $1.23 billion
* Other security aid (e.g., military colleges, transfer of used weapons):
$334.4 million
* Coalition Support Funds:
$5.92 billion (estimated through year's end; currently about $5.3 billion spent)
* Total: About $10 billion
(Note: Excludes any covert funding the U.S. may provide)
Sources: Congressional Research
Service, Center for Strategic and
International Studies, Times research
