Without explaining how, Defense Secretary Ash Carter said the controversy over the “clawback” of improperly paid re-enlistment bonuses to more than 10,000 California National Guard troops will be resolved, and that he has directed his deputy to come up with a solution.
Speaking in Paris at a meeting of counter-Islamic State coalition countries, Carter said on Tuesday that while the issue “has got its complexities to it,” the Pentagon is “going to look into it, and resolve it.”
“Anybody who volunteers to serve in the armed forces of the United States deserves our gratitude and respect, period,” Carter said.
Pentagon officials confirmed that Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work held a high-level meeting to address the storm of outrage that followed a Los Angeles Times report over the weekend that profiled former soldiers facing financial ruin because they’re required to return enlistment bonuses they took in good faith, but had received fraudulently through no fault of their own.
The Pentagon says its hands were tied by laws that require the government to seek to recover funds that were disbursed in error or because of criminal wrongdoing.
In this case, a senior enlisted soldier overseeing the bonus program in California pleaded guilty in 2011 to filing false claims of $15.2 million and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison.
An audit revealed a total of $20 million in improperly-awarded bonuses, mostly to members of the California National Guard.
The Pentagon says it can grant relief from the debt only on a case-by-case basis, if individuals can show they did not know they were ineligible for the money, and if they can also demonstrate that repaying the money would cause severe financial hardship.
