Sensitive Military Items Show up Online

A recent investigation turned up everything from military-spec night-vision goggles to protective chemical warfare suits on eBay and Craiglist.

Ebay and Craigslist may have reputations for selling rare and hard-to-find items, but in some cases, Uncle Sam wants those impossible-to-get items to remain that way. In a report released on Thursday, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) revealed the results of an investigation that turned up scores of sensitive military items on both sites, from F-14 antennas to body armor.

Although buying and selling the items isn’t explicitly illegal, the report raised questions of where they were coming from and where they would be going. Certain body armor panels, for instance, aren’t sold commercially and were likely stolen from the military, while F-14 fighter jets are only still flown by Iran, indicating that the parts for them may fall into the hands of a hostile government.

“While potential buyers for some sensitive items certainly include hobbyists, military enthusiasts, and emergency response or law  enforcement units, the ICE cases clearly show the real risk that illegal  weapons brokers, terrorists, and unauthorized agents of foreign  governments also number among potential buyers,” the GAO report stated. Besides putting the items into direct use, the office also expressed concern that items could be reverse engineered to develop better countermeasures against them.

Following the investigation, eBay’s fraud investigation unit helped the GAO obtain names of questionable sellers to check against a list of Department of Defense employees, and handed certain cases off to local law enforcement.