GAO Report Discloses $164,000,000 in U.S. Aid Provided under Waiver Authority
WASHINGTON, DC – The Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) renewed calls on Congress to strike presidential waiver authority of Section 907 restrictions on U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan, in the wake a long-awaited General Accounting Office (GAO) report revealing that the State Department consistently failed to inform Congress of the impact of over $164 million in assistance to Baku on the military balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia.
“The human consequences of the terrible war in Nagorno-Karabakh underscore the deep concerns that I have long had about providing U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan,” said Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Robert Menendez (D-NJ), who had requested the report. “This report finds that, for several years, the State Department consistently failed to provide sufficient details about the quantity of assistance to Azerbaijan, the status of the military balance, and the impact of the assistance on peace negotiations. These findings are further proof that the status quo is unacceptable, and we must exercise additional scrutiny over the U.S. government’s ongoing provision of assistance to Azerbaijan. In the coming weeks, I will be renewing my efforts for the State Department to reconsider any future planned assistance to Azerbaijan, respect Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act, and improve its reporting to Congress in the future.”
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“This report – prepared by our nation’s highest government watchdog – shines a spotlight on a dark corner of U.S. policy, confirming what we have always known – that the reckless U.S. military aid program to Azerbaijan has been irresponsibly implemented and inadequately reported, in violation of U.S. law,” said ANCA Executive Director Aram Hamparian. “The oil-rich, racist, and openly aggressive Aliyev regime does not need and surely does not deserve a single dollar from U.S. taxpayers. President Biden must act on this report by immediately revoking his Section 907 waiver – fully enforcing this longstanding provision of U.S. law.”
The GAO report confirmed that the Departments of State, Defense (DOD), and Energy and the U.S. Agency for International Development provided about $808 million in US aid to Azerbaijan in fiscal years 2002 through 2020, about $164 million of which (20 percent) was for security assistance pursuant to the Section 907 waiver.
“In fiscal years 2014 through 2021, State’s reporting to Congress did not address some required elements, such as the impact of proposed assistance on the military balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia,” asserts the GAO report. “State’s 2021 guidance to agencies did not provide detailed instructions about the information required for its reporting to Congress. Unless State takes steps to ensure its reporting addresses all required elements, Congress may lack important information about U.S. assistance to the government of Azerbaijan.”
The GAO report went further, to explain that State and DOD, from fiscal year 2014 to 2020, “did not document how they determined that their programs would not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.” While program-level considerations of the waiver provision are not statutorily required, documenting such considerations would help ensure State’s access to quality information to support its certification of the waiver extension and its related reporting to Congress, explains the report.
Adopted in 1992, Section 907 of the FREEDOM Support Act restricts U.S. assistance to Azerbaijan until that country takes demonstrable steps to end its aggression and lift its blockades against Armenia and Artsakh (Nagorno Karabakh). In 2002, the President was given waiver authority of Section 907, if they determined and certified that, among other items, providing US assistance will not “undermine or hamper ongoing efforts to negotiate a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan or be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.” Section 907 has been waived annually since then.
The waiver authority requires that State submit a report to appropriate congressional committees within 60 days of exercising the waiver, specifying (1) the nature and quantity of all training and assistance provided to the government of Azerbaijan pursuant to the waiver, (2) the status of the military balance between Azerbaijan and Armenia and the impact of U.S. assistance on that balance, and (3) the status of negotiations for a peaceful settlement between Armenia and Azerbaijan and the impact of the U.S. assistance on those negotiations. The statute also requires consultation with the Committees on Appropriations prior to the provision of assistance made available pursuant to the waiver.
Washington, D.C. – Today, Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a report by the Government Accounting Office (GAO) which found that, according to Chairman Menendez, “the State Department failed to comply with reporting requirements for reviewing U.S. assistance to the Government of Azerbaijan,” reported the Armenian Assembly of America (Assembly).
Further, according to Chairman Menendez, the GAO report “found that over several years, the Department of State and Department of Defense failed to meet statutory reporting requirements to Congress on the impact of U.S. assistance on the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan.”
“We commend Chairman Menendez for his leadership. Given Azerbaijan’s unprovoked war in the Fall of 2020 and the ongoing ceasefire violations committed by Azerbaijan, along with the failure of the State Department to comply with the reporting requirements of Section 907 of the Freedom Support Act, we urge Congress to fully enforce Section 907,” stated Assembly Congressional Relations Director Mariam Khaloyan.
Per Senator Menendez’s press release, the following are key findings from the GAO report:
· State’s reporting to Congress from FY2014-FY2021 did not address required elements, including the impact on proposed assistance on the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
· State’s Memorandums of Justification contained limited or no details regarding quantity of assistance, status of the military balance between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the impact of U.S. assistance on the military balance, or the impact of the assistance on peace negotiations.
· State’s 2021 guidance did not provide detailed instructions to agencies about reporting requirements to Congress.
· State and DoD did not document their consideration of waiver requirements from FY2014-FY2020, including how they determined assistance would not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia.
“The Assembly looks forward to working with Chairman Menendez to further strengthen this principled provision of law,” added Khaloyan.
To read the full report, click here.