Democratic Representative Henry Waxman of California, who chairs the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, recently released the statistics that more convicted felons have been allowed to enlist and serve in the ranks of the United States Army and the United States Marine Corps. Waxman said that the Department of Defense has about one month to explain why they let those felons into the military.
If one is convicted of such felonies such as assault, drug possession, terrorist threats, and so forth, they will still be allowed to enlist in the military. Waxman said that he wants up-to-date information on the number of waivers the Pentagon has given out along on how those recruits that are convicted felons perform. He is also looking for information on how this relates to meeting recruitment goals.
Back in 2006, the United States Army gave 249 waivers. In 2007, the US Army had given out 511 waivers. In 2006, the USMC gave out 208 waivers. In 2007, the USMC gave out 350 waivers.
Waxman said that he understands the reasons for such waivers. However, he raised concerns about how doing so would undermine the readiness of military units for upcoming operations. His main concern is that it will put a further strain on the military, which is suffering from the Iraq War.
Iraq has been the main platform of GOP nominee Senator John McCain of Arizona.
The Army defended itself and argued that only a fraction of those that meet the military age do meet their standards. In short, the Army had lowered its standards in order to fill in the ranks of trying to recruit at least 80,000 people a year. However, the Army said that those do get convicted of sexual assault, drug trafficking, and various other crimes do not get granted waivers.
Since this could be linked with Iraq, it is a possible sub-topic in the general election debates.
In short, Waxman wants answers. The Army says that not many meet their standards. In a nutshell, the US Army says that it has lowered standards to meet the quota. So far, the USMC has not responded yet.