Pentagon draws ire of lawmakers over war crimes evidence sharing
By Zamone Perez
Friday, Jun 2
The Department of Defense drew the ire of lawmakers on Wednesday when a senior State Department official confirmed the Pentagon has acted as a roadblock in the United States government’s cooperation with an international organization that prosecutes war crimes.
Beth Van Schaack, who serves as the U.S. Global Criminal Justice ambassador-at-large, testified Wednesday before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on possible war crimes perpetrated by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine.
Van Schaack spent much of the session answering lawmakers’ questions about the Pentagon’s resistance to cooperating with the International Criminal Court.
Questioned by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) about whether the Pentagon was the agency keeping the rest of the federal government from reaching a consensus on ICC cooperation, Van Schaack referenced previous congressional testimony from Defense Sec. Lloyd Austin. Van Hollen countered, asserting that the query was “a yes or no answer.”
https://www.militarytimes.com/news/your-military/2023/06/02/pentagon-draws-ire-of-lawmakers-over-war-crimes-evidence-sharing/
