Summary: The General Accounting Office has made a review of the Military Assistance Program (MAP) for Cambodia as administered by the United States Military Assistance Advisory Group (MAAG) to Cambodia. Our review was made pursuant to the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (31 U.S.C. 53), and the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 (31 U.S.C. 67). This review is one of a group on the military assistance program. The purpose of this program, its organization and management, and method of financing were described in our report on the military assistance program transmitted to the Congress on August 29, 1957.
Program requirements have been developed without valid tables of organization and equipment (TO&E) on which to base initial needs and without adequate knowledge of materiel possessed by the Cambodian Army, the Forces Armees Royale Khameres. The MAAG has reported that considerable excess equipment exists in Cambodia. In the absence of a sound basis for programming, additional materiel may be delivered in excess of country requirements. At the time of our review, no firm plan had been developed to determine actual stocks in the possession of the Cambodian Army nor to determine and recover excesses. MAP materiel has been delivered to Cambodia in quantities which cannot be effectively utilized or properly maintained by country forces. At the time of our review, significant quantities of equipment were either inoperative or otherwise not being utilized, mainly because of a shortage of trained personnel and an inadequate supply distribution system. The MAAG has not performed adequate inspections of the depots and maintenance facilities to determine whether proper care is being taken of delivered MAP materiel. Prospective assistance under the economic assistance program has not been sufficiently coordinated with the military assistance program to insure that maximum use is made by the economic assistance program of materiel and equipment available for such use already possessed by military forces' in Cambodia. The military assistance program is being administered without long-range program planning for the continued support of the military forces now being equipped at United States expense. Responsible United States officials have reported that Cambodia cannot, unaided, finance the military establishment at the desired level to meet program objectives recommended by the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff.
