Sen. Joni Ernst is demanding answers from the Biden administration following a watchdog’s report that found Taiwan received shipments of moldy body armor, expired ammunition and other “substandard” military equipment. 

In a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Wednesday, Ms. Ernst wrote that the “embarrassing debacle” highlighted shortcomings in President Biden’s counter-China strategy and was a waste of hundreds of thousands of dollars of taxpayer money. 

The Iowa Republican’s letter followed a report from the Department of Defense Inspector General that found failures within the oversight, planning and execution of the presidential drawdown authority, which allows the White House to use stocks from the Defense Department to respond to crises in foreign countries. 

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Ms. Ernst wrote that the report found that between November 2023 and March, the Defense Department “failed to follow established guidelines for delivering military assistance to Taiwan.” 

Specifically, 67% of the equipment was water-damaged while being stored at Travis Air Force Base because of “inadequate storage facilities,” which resulted in the shipment of more than 3,000 pieces of moldy body armor and 500 wet tactical vests. More than $730,000 in taxpayer money was spent to clean and salvage the damaged plates of body armor.

There were also expired rounds because of packaging errors among 2.7 million rounds of ammunition shipped to Taiwan. 

“This situation presents not only operational risks for Taiwan but also a broader strategic risk to U.S. credibility,” Ms. Ernst wrote. “As the report stresses, these failures could severely undermine Taiwan’s confidence in the United States at a time when the region faces growing security challenges. With ongoing tensions in the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. cannot afford to weaken its commitments or lose the trust of critical partners and allies.”

The Washington Times reached out to the Defense Department for comment on Ms. Ernst’s letter. 

Ms. Ernst urged the Pentagon to take immediate corrective actions for the situation, and requested to know what steps were being taken to follow drawdown authority guidelines, where the money to clean the damaged gear came from, and if there was any other equipment stored near the moldy body armor and whether that gear was damaged, too.