US taps ex-justice official to lead new oversight panel tracking use of Ukraine military aid
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The United States has appointed a Defense Department inspector to head a team to review the use of military aid to Ukraine from Washington, the press service of the Office of Inspector General reported on Sept. 21.
Robert Storch will oversee the use of aid sent to Ukraine and other countries since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion. The total amount of funds allocated stands at about $113 billion.
The inspector general will also work in cooperation with the U.S. State Department and USAID monitors. His team will also publish quarterly reports on the progress of military assistance and its use for the U.S. Congress.
Storch is scheduled to begin his duties on Oct. 18.
Storch is a lawyer and a U.S. government official. He has held positions under the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden. Previously, Storch was the inspector general of the National Security Agency and deputy inspector general at the U.S. Department of Justice.
He also has ties to Ukraine. From 2007 to 2009, he worked as a Department of Justice resident legal advisor in the U.S. Embassy in Ukraine, and in 2014 he helped write the law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau.
In 2017, the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Preventing and Combating Corruption nominated him as a candidate for the position of a member of the external control commission to audit the NABU. At that time, the Ukrainian parliament did not support Storch's candidacy.
At the end of January 2023, the U.S. Treasury Department stated that it saw no signs of misuse of U.S. funds in Ukraine. U.S. auditors came to Kyiv to check the use of international aid.
Washington has been supporting Ukraine since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion, providing unprecedented amounts of military and financial assistance to Kyiv, as well as training the Ukrainian military.
U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly stressed that his country will support Ukraine for as long as necessary.
The United States announced a new military aid package for Ukraine on Sept. 22 worth $325 million. This is the 47th aid package provided by the United States since August 2021.
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