National Guard: Hill staffers were told about overpaid bonuses six years ago

National Guard Bureau officials say they notified congressional staffers six years ago about reenlistment bonuses mistakenly paid to troops, pushing back on criticism from Congress after a recent report revealed aggressive efforts to recoup the money a decade later. 

Officials told The Hill they sent emails to professional staff members of the House and Senate Armed Services committees in October 2010. The emails notified them that the Guard was cooperating with a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into fraudulent activity by California National Guard incentives manager Master Sgt. Toni Jaffe. 

{mosads}”The staffers were notified of the Guard’s cooperation with the DOJ investigation into MSG Jaffe’s fraud in California, and the immediate actions [the National Guard Bureau] was taking to initiate an in-depth process review of the incentive programs in question both in California and in the broader National Guard,” said Guard spokesman Col. Les Melnyk. 

But it’s not clear how that message was handled or if lawmakers were told.

Melnyk said emails to staff are typically followed up with calls, but since there are no official records of those, he could not say with “absolute certainty” that there was a follow-up. 

“We also typically do not communicate this type of issue direct to members, but the [professional staff members] may have done so,” Melnyk added.

And it’s not clear whether staffers understood the scope of the problem. When the National Guard Bureau sent its email in 2010, a review of the California National Guard incentives program was not yet complete and the government had not yet tried to take the money back.

The audit would only discover in 2012 that Jaffe approved bonuses or other incentives for about 9,600 soldiers who were not qualified. She later pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 30 months in prison and fined $15.2 million.

Lawmakers were furious after an Oct. 24 report in the Los Angeles Times revealed the Pentagon was trying to recoup those reenlistment bonuses and other incentives erroneously paid to nearly 10,000 California National Guard soldiers a decade ago, threatening soldiers with interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens.

The Pentagon began trying to reclaim those bonuses in 2012. But National Guard officials insist Congress knew all along about the issue and did little to help them solve it.

National Guard spokeswoman Maj. Shannon Thomas acknowledged in an email to The Hill, “There was no formal correspondence from [National Guard Bureau] to Congress regarding the bonus recoupment issue.”

However, she said the Guard’s efforts were mentioned in a 2013 Department of Defense inspector general report to Congress. The report mentioned that Jaffe had disbursed approximately $20 million to officers and enlisted personnel not entitled to the benefits.

The report also mentioned the California Army National Guard had ordered $6.3 million in recoupments from more than 900 current and former guard members — only about one-tenth of those who were eventually asked to pay back their bonuses.

California National Guard officials also say they told members of the California congressional delegation about the issue in 2014. They say they even offered a legislative fix in an email listing their priorities for the 2015 National Defense Authorization Act, obtained by The Hill. 

The email on March 7, 2014, said “thousands of soldiers have inadvertently incurred debt, through no fault of their own, because of faulty Army recruiting or accounting practices, and malicious individuals. Unfortunately, no official process exists to adjudicate debt relief for Army National Guard soldiers, which has caused years of hardship for them and their families.” 

But a House aide told The Hill the issue was the last of six listed priorities and there was “no sense of scope or depth of the problem, or urgency.”

The issue was also not mentioned in a similar list of priorities the California National Guard sent to the California delegation for 2015 defense appropriations, also obtained by The Hill. 

A May 15, 2014, letter to the California delegation from California Gov. Jerry Brown’s (D) military council on “important priorities” within the defense budget obtained by The Hill also failed to raise the issue of the bonuses.

The House aide said lawmakers in late 2013 or early 2014 only thought that there had been “massive fraud and that people were going to jail or had gone to jail, and that the Guard was attempting to get money back from people who had committed fraud.” 

The aide also said that Congress didn’t know at the time how much it would cost to forgive the debt for innocent parties. 

The aide added that the Pentagon and the Army had assured lawmakers “they had it under control, and that they were going to take care of the innocent parties, and that they had all the authorities they needed to do that.” 

Rep. Richard Nugent (R-Fla.) in April 2016 proposed a provision that was included in the House’s 2017 National Defense Authorization Act, which would limit the time in which the Pentagon could recoup overpayments. But an aide said the provision predated any knowledge of the California situation. The provision also would not take effect until 2027.

Some California lawmakers have said they were not aware of the issue before the Times’s report on Oct. 24, including House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R). But others have said they were aware. Rep. Mark Takano (D) said he knew the Guard came forward with a proposal to resolve the matter but that it “languished” over funding issues. 

Several House aides told The Hill the issue would have been in the wheelhouse of staffers for the House and Senate Armed Services personnel subcommittees.

The Hill contacted the office of Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.), ranking member of the personnel subcommittee, two times to verify the National Guard’s communication with Congress in 2010 and other messages but has not yet received a response. 

Lawmakers are now calling on the Pentagon to provide more information after defense officials said a National Guard Bureau audit found erroneous bonus payments in every state. Guard officials still have not identified the number of cases. 

Some lawmakers, including Nugent and Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), have asked Defense Secretary Ash Carter for information on how many National Guard service members in their states could be affected. 

The Pentagon last week suspended efforts to recoup the bonuses and said it is establishing a process to help affected service members. 

Several California lawmakers say they plan to work with the Pentagon on a long-term fix once they return to Washington after the elections.

House Armed Services Committee leaders also said they are working on an immediate legislative fix in the current defense policy bill.

Updated Nov. 5 at 4 p.m.