[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 156 (Tuesday, October 16, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        INTRODUCTION OF IDENTIFICATION FRIEND OR FOE LEGISLATION

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                         HON. KENDRICK B. MEEK

                               of florida

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 16, 2007

  Mr. MEEK of Florida. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
legislation that will stop the selling of our U.S. servicemembers' 
safety.
  Between August and October of 2006, 4,800 used combat uniforms 
bearing ``glo-tape'' patches were inadvertently sold despite a 
determination by a Defense Department office in July of that year that 
the patches had to be removed and destroyed before such uniforms could 
be put on sale. A year later less than 350 of the uniforms and patches 
have been returned. The availability of these items on the black market 
has the potential to cost U.S. military lives.
  Glo-tape patches and other military items designated as 
``Identification Friend or Foe (IFF)'' are specifically designed to 
allow members of our armed services to easily identify each other in 
poor lighting and certain other inclement conditions.
  In the hands of the enemy, these patches could allow for infiltration 
into our ranks, as happened in January of this year when insurgents 
dressed in U.S. military uniforms in Karbala entered a secure compound 
killing one serviceman and abducting four others.
  IFF items are listed by the military as items that are required to be 
completely demilitarized, and are not to be sold to the public. Yet, 
there is currently no enforcement procedure to ensure that persons 
illegally in possession of these items return them to the Department of 
Defense.
  An investigation in July of 2007 by Newsweek magazine determined that 
IFF items were easily obtained at retailers in several areas of the 
United States without consequence (See article following).
  I have introduced legislation that will protect our men and women 
from those whose reckless acts would cause them harm. First, the bill 
codifies into law that it is illegal to possess, purchase, or sell 
Identification Friend or Foe items. The bill further requires the 
Department to provide notice anywhere that the Department authorizes 
the private sale of surplus or used military items that the possession, 
purchase, or sale of IFF items, original or counterfeit, is punishable 
by law.
  Secondly, the bill makes it a Class B Misdemeanor, punishable by up 
to six months in jail per incident, to possess these items or transact 
business related to the items. It would also be a crime to counterfeit 
these items for personal or retail use.
  We can and should do everything in power to protect our men and women 
in uniform by removing any advantage the enemy might seek to gain. 
Please join me in making the selling of our servicemembers' safety a 
crime.

                     [From Newsweek, July 16, 2007]

                    The Military: A Dangerous Patch

       The Pentagon prides itself on the ability of U.S. combat 
     units to operate under cover of darkness. But that advantage 
     could be eroded if a key item--infrared patches that troops 
     use to ID each other at night--were to fall into the wrong 
     hands.
       According to a Defense Department spokesman, 4,800 used 
     combat uniforms bearing ``glo-tape'' patches were 
     inadvertently sold to U.S. and Canadian clients of an 
     Arizona-based company between August and October 2006--
     despite a Defense Department determination in July of that 
     year that the patches had to be removed and destroyed before 
     such uniforms could be put on sale. When the oversight was 
     discovered, the Pentagon ordered the company, Government 
     Liquidation, to return 1,200 garments containing the infrared 
     patches that were still in its possession. (A company 
     spokeswoman says the Pentagon did not notify Government 
     Liquidation of any restrictions on the sale of the glo-tape 
     items prior to October of last year, and a senior Defense 
     Department official said the company did not violate any 
     existing clause of its contract with the Pentagon when it 
     was selling the glo-tape uniforms.)
       The Pentagon imposed a blanket ban on the sale of combat 
     fatigues this past February after Iraqi insurgents in U.S. 
     combat uniforms entered a government security compound and 
     killed five soldiers. But individual patches can still be 
     easily obtained--as Newsweek reporters learned last month 
     when they purchased several patches at military supply stores 
     in Jacksonville, N.C., and Oceanside, Calif., without being 
     asked to produce military ID. More than 4,000 of the 
     patchbearing used uniforms are still at large, according to 
     senior Pentagon official Paul Peters.
       The U.S. Army began issuing combat fatigues bearing the 
     glo-tape patches after a friendly-fire incident in the first 
     week of the Iraq invasion that may have contributed to the 
     deaths of 10 Marines. Known as IFF (Identification Friend or 
     Foe), they come in various shapes and sizes that include U.S. 
     flags; they can be detected at night by ground troops and 
     airborne combat pilots equipped with night-vision goggles. No 
     law forbids civilian surplus stores in the United States from 
     selling the items, a fact that one Marine corporal finds 
     alarming. ``If you're moving around in the dark and you see 
     someone with infrared patches, you won't be as on guard as 
     you would be with somebody without those patches;' says 
     Jeremy Terhune, 26, an infantry rifleman from Saugus, Calif., 
     who has served three tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. No 
     evidence has yet surfaced that insurgents in Iraq or 
     Afghanistan have acquired the patches.

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