Sen. Wilson Seeks Reforms : Medical Supplies Vanish in Defense Depot Thefts

Lax security and poor accounting procedures at Defense Department supply depots are permitting huge losses of drugs and medical equipment intended for use at U.S. military installations, Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) said Friday.

Wilson, who has mounted a two-year effort to improve the nation’s military inventory system, said some of the missing medications are ending up on drugstore shelves with changed expiration dates and “present a serious problem to public health.”

Wilson’s remarks to reporters, made in conjunction with a General Accounting Office report released Friday, follow the arrest last month of four California men accused of running a $1.3-million theft ring from the Defense Department’s depot at Tracy, Calif.

Guilty of Conspiracy

Two of those charged, Jay Williams, 52, of Stockton, and Thomas McElroy, 41, of San Diego, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to steal government property and are awaiting sentencing. Demosthenes Jackson, 53, of Stockton, and Robert Avery, 56, of Modesto, are scheduled for trial April 4. Williams and Avery were Tracy employees.

Wilson has introduced legislation designed to tighten the management of the vast military supply system.

“They need to change the way they do business,” said Wilson, who noted that current guidelines direct military investigators to concentrate on probing losses of material worth more than $800. “Because most of the items it manages cost less than $10 each, it’s near impossible for the Defense Logistics Agency (which manages the military’s $9-billion inventory of goods) to keep tight control over pilferable items,” Wilson said.

Bit-by-Bit Losses

Wilson said the Defense Department’s six military supply depots may, bit-by-bit, be losing millions of dollars’ worth of goods, ranging from spark plugs to uniforms to pharmaceuticals.

In the Tracy case, the stolen drugs were sold to a “fence” who altered their expiration dates and then resold them to commercial outlets.

Richard Helmer, deputy associate director of the General Accounting Office, warned that the thefts at Tracy “could be the tip of the iceberg,” given security weaknesses found elsewhere in the military’s sprawling supply system.

At one warehouse in Mechanicsburg, Pa., prescription and over-the-counter drugs were stored on loading docks and in other areas that were accessible to anybody.

Wilson’s legislation would eliminate the $800 threshold at which losses must be reported and probed, allowing investigations to be launched instead in cases where items particularly prone to pilferage disappear. The legislation also would authorize $10 million for a thorough military review of security measures at warehouses and depots with recommendations for corrections.