This final management advisory provides the results of the DoD Office of Inspector General’s review of the process for identifying and reporting non-DoD solid waste burning at or near DoD-occupied sites.
The purpose of this management advisory is to inform the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Readiness Policy and Oversight, and Defense Health Agency of concerns over the insufficient process for identifying and reporting non-DoD solid waste burning at or near DoD-occupied sites. During our “Audit of the DoD’s Management of Air Quality Issues at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti” (D2023-D000RJ-0155.000), announced on September 25, 2023, we determined that the DoD did not implement sufficient policy to identify and report the exposure of U.S. personnel to non-DoD-controlled burn pits at or near contingency installations.
Specifically, DoD officials did not develop policy requiring operational commanders to identify and report non‑DoD‑controlled burn pits disposing of non-DoD-generated waste to the Combatant Command and Joint Chiefs of Staff J-4 Logistics Directorate. DoD policy only requires the identification and reporting of burn pits that are burning solid waste generated by the DoD. This omission creates the potential for U.S. Service member exposure to burn pit toxins not being captured in their health records. We conducted the work that supports this management advisory from November 2023 through April 2024 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards.