Defense chief pledges to ‘resolve’ bonus clawback issue

Defense Secretary Ash Carter pledged Tuesday to “resolve” the issue of the Pentagon attempting to recoup bonuses it paid to National Guard soldiers a decade ago.

“The first thing I want to say is that anybody who volunteers to serve in the armed forces of the United States deserves our gratitude and respect. Period,” Carter said during a press conference in Paris. “It’s got its complexities to it, and we are going to look into it and resolve it.”

Carter, who is in the midst of a weeklong trip abroad for meetings on the counter-ISIS campaign and other issues, added that he’s asked Deputy Defense Secretary Bob Work to work on the National Guard issue.

Carter did not elaborate on how the Pentagon would seek to resolve it.

A bipartisan flood of lawmakers has expressed outraged after The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday that the Pentagon was trying to claw back $22 million in bonuses given to soldier soldiers who enlisted or re-enlisting during the war in Afghanistan and the height of the Iraq War.

The bonuses were supposed to be given soldiers with in-demand skills, but were applied more liberally. The issue happened in every state, but California was particularly affected.

The Times followed up Monday with a report saying the California National Guard alerted the state’s congressional delegation to the issue two years ago, but that Congress didn’t take action.

Since the weekend report, lawmakers from both parties have been sending letters to Carter demanding the Pentagon halt its efforts to recoup the payments until a legislative fix is put in place.

President Obama has directed the Pentagon to expedite its review of the issue, a White House spokesman said Tuesday.

“His first priority is making sure that our men and women in uniform who signed up to fight for our safety overseas are treated fairly when they come home,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters. “When we make a promise to our men and women in the military, we need to keep it.”

Earnest said he doesn’t think Obama is prepared to support a blanket waiver of the repayments, but he said “we’re not going to nickel and dime” troops.

On Monday, a Pentagon spokesman said soldiers can apply for debt waivers on an individual basis and that it was looking into a way to help soldiers through that process. But, the spokesman added, the Pentagon can’t by law give a blanket waiver.

“We have the ability to waive individual payments on a one-by-one basis,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. Jeff Davis told reporters, but “there’s not currently the authority to waive these things writ large.”

A letter Monday from California Democratic Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer insisted that the Pentagon already has the authority waive the debts.

“We believe the Department of Defense should use its existing authority under [special pay law] to waive the repayment of these enlistment bonuses,” they wrote.

— Updated at 4:11 p.m.