IDF Disputes Comptroller’s Charges of Negligence and Mismanagement

The Army is disputing charges by State Comptroller Itzhak Nebenzahl that it has been negligent in the storage and maintenance of military equipment. The Comptroller’s annual report, released today, also accused the armed services of waste and mismanagement and cited instances where senior Air Force officers allegedly appropriated military aircraft for their private use at great expense to the taxpayers.

The report referred to an Air Force commander in the south who insisted on flying home in a light jet plane although regular flights by transport planes provided to carry military personnel on leave were only half-filled. The cost of flying the commander’s plane was $3300 per hour, the report said.

Nebenzahl also reported that in an emergency call-up exercise by an infantry brigade in June, 1976, 53 percent of those called failed to acknowledge the call-up. He said a check of the same unit four months later showed that no action had been taken to find out why the earlier failure had occurred. The report found conditions in military prisons below the standards prescribed by medical regulations.

It cited overcrowding of cells and windows too small to allow inmates a fair amount of air and light. The report said the lack of things to do was “very serious” in the case of long-term military prisoners. The Comptroller accused the prison authorities of failing to provide prisoners with educational opportunities.

The report specifically criticized the Defense Ministry for neglecting equipment for months and sometimes years after it was unloaded from ships. It found fault with the maintenance of a helicopter unit of the Air Force. Nebenzahl suggested that Army Headquarters check out all the charges to as certain if they applied only to certain units or to the military establishment as a whole.

But the Army’s response was that the Comptroller’s criticism was unwarranted. It said some equipment had to be left out of doors because “the only alternative to this, until you finish building the arsenals, is postponing the actual purchase of the equipment and that would contradict the purchase policy of the Army.” It also said that “There is no direct link between the standard of registration of equipment and the standard of maintenance,” indicating that if some vehicles and other equipment were not immediately registered that did not mean the equipment was improperly cared for.

With elections less than three weeks off, Nebenzahl said today that he would not hold the usual press conference that accompanies the release of his report. The annual report covers all government branches and agencies and usually creates a furore because it finds that the vast bureaucracy and administrative complex leaves must to be desired. Opposition parties usually seize on this report to castigate the government.