While the debate over keeping firearms out of the hands of suspected terrorists rages within the halls of Congress, a new report reveals that the CIA allowed millions of dollars worth of weaponry to fall into the hands of weapons smugglers and criminal gangs in Jordan.
Arms shipments brokered by the agency for Syrian rebels were pilfered by Jordanian intelligence operatives and sold on the black market, a joint investigation by The New York Times and Al Jazeera has found.
Investigators believe that some of the weapons were used in a mass shooting last November at a police training facility in Amman, Jordan. The attack killed five people, including two Americans.
“The theft and resale of the arms—including Kalashnikov assault rifles, mortars and rocket-propelled grenades—have led to a flood of new weapons available on the black arms market,” the Times reported over the weekend. The paper added that officials don’t know the whereabouts of most of the armaments, but a number of different gangs and militias have purchased weapons via arms bazaars that have popped up around Jordan.
The revelations come amid a push by Democrats in the US to restrict domestic weapons sales to the roughly 1.5 million individuals who are flagged in the government’s suspected terrorist databases. Lawmakers staged a 25-hour sit-in last week in the House to agitate for a vote on the gun control legislation.
The CIA’s weapons shipment to rebels began in 2013 under a classified program known as Timber Sycamore. Working with Arab intelligence services, the US hoped the initiative would bolster Syrian opposition forces in their fight to topple the government of President Bashar al Assad.
Jordanian agents were entrusted with transporting the arms to the front lines on the Syrian battlefield. Instead, by reselling the weapons, they were able to turn a profit for themselves, “using the money to buy expensive SUVs, iPhones, and other luxury items,” Jordanian officials told the Times.
The Jordanian intelligence service, the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), put an end to the scheme a few months ago, leading to the arrest of several dozen officers. All were eventually released, but fired from the intelligence agency. They were, however, allowed to keep their pensions and their profits from the illegal weapons sales. The CIA has not yet commented on the report.
The State Department, meanwhile, issued a statement saying that it intends to continue “partnering closely” with Jordan to meet security challenges. “The United States deeply values the long history of cooperation and friendship with Jordan,” department spokesman John Kirby said over the weekend.
