Pentagon Investigates Soldiers’ Charity

The Pentagon is investigating complaints that officials in the Department of Defense lobbied improperly on behalf of a private charity that supports troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, reports The New York Times.

At issue is America Supports You, a government program that was founded three years ago by the Pentagon, and the America Supports You Fund, a private organization. The efforts both are designed to help soldiers and their families.

Some Pentagon officials are accused of lobbying private citizens on behalf of the fund in order to channel money into the government program, which the officials are not allowed to do.

Specifically, officials asked the movie producer Mark Vahradian to make the fund the beneficiary of a Hollywood fund-raising event he plans for later this year. The officials also may have shifted money from one Pentagon account to the other without permission.

The inspector general’s office, which will examine the complaints, has not accused any Pentagon officials of wrongdoing. Instead, it has decided to investigate out of an “abundance of caution,” the newspaper says.

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