Sensitive and stolen US military items are being sold on eBay, according to a report by the [US] Government Accountability Office. Investigators posing as buyers were able to purchase a dozen prohibited military items on the popular online auction site. The report notes that the items purchased could easily have been shipped overseas. The items include:
* Two F-14 fighter jet components. The US has retired its fleet of F-14s. Only Iran is currently using them.
* Nightvision goggles made to military specs that allow the user to identify US troops at night.
* Army combat uniforms. The military has prohibited the sale of uniforms to non-military personnel since January 2007, when Iraqi insurgents used US military uniforms to sneak into a base in Karbala and kill five US service members.
* Enhanced body armour vests used by US troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.
[The website] eBay says that it has more than 113 million items listed for sale at any given time and that military goods account for well under one-tenth of 1% of those. A quick search of eBay revealed several army combat uniforms for sale, despite the ban. ?With 7 million listings being added every day, we do the best we can, but things slip through from time to time,? said Kim Rubey of eBay. Testifying before the House National Security and Foreign Affairs subcommittee, eBay VP Tod Cohen said the company vigorously works to keep prohibited items off the site.
Representative Chris Shays, R-Connecticut, pressed a Defense Department official for answers on how military goods are making their way into the marketplace. ?Do we have a serious theft problem, or do we not even know if we have the ability to know we have a serious theft problem?? Shays asked.
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