Pentagon Opens Inquiry of Troop-Support Group

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/12/washington/12pentagon.html?ex=1336622400&en=1869ff13119f376b&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

Pentagon Opens Inquiry of Troop-Support Group


By DAVID S. CLOUD
Published: May 12, 2007

WASHINGTON, May 11 — The Pentagon is looking into complaints that Defense Department officials charged with building public support for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan might have engaged in improper fund-raising and unauthorized spending, officials said Friday.

The inspector general is examining whether officials who run “America Supports You,” a three-year-old Pentagon program lauded by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, helped arrange a fund-raiser for a private foundation set up last December by former Bush administration appointees. The foundation raises money to help troops and their families.

The inquiry is also looking into whether money used for “America Supports You” and other public outreach programs has been shifted improperly from Pentagon accounts intended for other purposes.

Internal memorandums and e-mail messages provided to investigators, copies of which were shared with The Times, suggest that Pentagon officials encouraged Mark Vahradian, a Hollywood film producer, to make the private foundation, called the “America Supports You Fund,” the beneficiary of a Los Angeles fund-raiser he is planning for later this year.

Pentagon employees are prohibited from soliciting on behalf of private organizations, said Bryan Whitman, a Pentagon spokesman. But Mr. Whitman said the Defense Department routinely referred members of the public to outside organizations, some of which are listed on a Pentagon Web site.

more...