The Defense Department handed over an estimated $1.2 million of military equipment to a fictitious federal law enforcement agency. Fortunately, the fraud scheme was set up by Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigators.
The investigators tested if the Defense Logistics Agency, an agency of the Defense Department, could detect a fraud attempt. Specifically, the investigators aimed at the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) program, which offers excess equipment to local and federal law enforcement agencies.
The program has distributed over $6 billion worth of property since 1991. About $240 million-$420 million of that property was considered “controlled,” which includes weapons, military vehicles, and even aircraft.
The program is popular with police departments because it gets them free supplies, like boots, clothes, and office supplies, but also equipment they couldn’t afford otherwise, such as humvees and helicopters.
The investigators managed to obtain nonlethal equipment like night vision goggles, simulated assault rifles, simulated pipe bombs, and infrared devices.
