Every Quarter, the United States Verifies the Use of American Military Equipment in Morocco

The monitoring appears in a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on American military equipment transferred to partner countries. Morocco is one of five countries whose end-use inspections were examined in detail by the watchdog of the American Congress.

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The result is particularly clear. For each of the 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 fiscal years, Morocco recorded inspections carried out during all four quarters. In other words, no quarterly period appears without verification during these five years. Greece and Israel show the same record, unlike Colombia and the Philippines, where some inspections were missed.

These operations are part of the American “Golden Sentry” program. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA), which reports to the Department of Defense, explains that its objective is to verify that military equipment transferred by Washington continues to be used in accordance with the conditions accepted by the recipient country.

In practical terms, American officials responsible for military cooperation must carry out at least one routine inspection per quarter and per country. They then observe one piece of equipment or a group of equipment subject to inspection. The form recorded in the American database indicates, in particular, which equipment was observed, whether it is being used as intended and whether American representatives encountered difficulties accessing it.

Morocco Must Allow the Americans to Inspect

This oversight does not stop at the use of the equipment. American conditions also require the recipient country to maintain an appropriate level of security and prohibit it from transferring the equipment to a third party without prior authorization from the United States. The recipient must also allow American representatives to conduct observations and inspections and provide them with the necessary information. These rules are detailed in the DSCA’s official manual on end-use monitoring.

In the event of suspected unauthorized use, transfer without permission, a security problem or even the loss of equipment, the facts must be reported to the DSCA and the Department of State. The latter is responsible for investigating any violations and may, depending on the circumstances, inform the American Congress.

The quarterly inspection does not, however, mean that the Americans inspect all military equipment present in Morocco every three months. The GAO specifies that a single observation of one piece of equipment or a group of equipment is sufficient to fulfill the quarterly routine-inspection requirement. American officials give particular priority to major equipment such as ships, aircraft and vehicles.

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The report even reveals a limitation of the system: the Pentagon does not systematically track the precise status of all military surpluses after their transfer—for example, to determine whether they are deployed, undergoing repair, destroyed or being used in combat. But on one point, the American data are unambiguous: in Morocco, the quarterly inspections required by “Golden Sentry” were indeed carried out during each of the twenty quarters covering the 2020 to 2024 fiscal years.