Pentagon halts effort to recover Guard
enlistment bonuses
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[October 27, 2016]
By Phil Stewart and Idrees Ali
BRUSSELS/
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter on Wednesday suspended a Pentagon order
that California National Guardsmen repay thousands of dollars in
enlistment bonuses and tuition assistance they had received by mistake
more than a decade ago.
"While some soldiers knew or should have known they were ineligible for
benefits they were claiming, many others did not," Carter, who is in
Europe meeting with U.S. allies, said in a statement.
"This process has dragged on too long, for too many service members," he
said. "Too many cases have languished without action. That's unfair to
service members and to taxpayers."
Thousands of California National Guard troops had been ordered to repay
enlistment bonuses - some of more than $15,000 - that were improperly
given to them. The Los Angeles Times, which first reported on the
bonuses last week, said audits revealed the California Guard had
overpaid troops in order to entice them to join and meet enlistment
targets.
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The Obama administration has been criticized by some military families
and Republicans - including presidential candidate Donald Trump - for
not doing enough for veterans. There also have been bipartisan calls in
the U.S. Congress to forgive the overpayments.
"The president has been pleased to see that in the last 24 hours the
Department of Defense make specific commitments to ensuring that our
service members are treated fairly," White House spokesman Josh Earnest
said during a media briefing in Washington.
Carter, speaking to reporters in Brussels as he announced the
suspension, said the law required the Pentagon keep open the option of
someday again seeking repayment.
"But the point is that ... there won’t be any more collections until we
put in place a process that can expeditiously and fairly deal with these
issues," he said.
Senior Defense Department officials have been told to assess the bonus
situation and establish a "streamlined, centralized process" by the
start of next year, Carter said in the statement. He added that about
2,000 people had been asked to repay erroneous payments.
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![](../images/102716PICS/news_h17.jpg)
Defense Secretary Ash Carter, accompanied by Turkey's Defense
Minister Fikri Isik (R), talks to media as he visits Turkish
Parliament which was partly damaged during the July 15 coup attempt,
in Ankara, Turkey, October 21, 2016. REUTERS/Adem Altan/Pool
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"The objective will be to complete the decision-making process on
all cases as soon as possible - and no later than July 1," he said.
The streamlined process, which will build on existing processes,
would evaluate each case individually, Peter Levine, acting
undersecretary of defense for personnel and readiness, told
reporters in Washington.
Levine said the amount of the improperly paid bonuses was unclear
but a nationwide audit had found that the issue affected people
outside California as well but the "numbers in other states are in
the dozens, rather than the hundreds or the thousands."
"The process that we have allows us to correct our records and to
correct our payment," he said. "We do not have the authority or the
ability to go and change people's credit records."
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in a statement on Wednesday that
Congress would "continue to work on any reforms necessary to ensure
this doesn't happen again."
(Reporting by Phil Stewart; Additional reporting by Idrees Ali;
Editing by Bill Trott)
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