Labrador retrievers have accompanied Marines in Afghanistan. Belgian Malinois keep watch at the White House. German shepherds provide security at airports. Sniffer dogs are posted at United States Embassies.

Through the years and across many borders, the American government has pressed dogs into labor and war. But a new federal report says better oversight is needed for dogs that are trained in the United States and then sent to foreign countries as part of an antiterrorism program . Some of those dogs have died or fallen ill while being kept in poor conditions, according to the report, released this month by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General.

The report, which reviewed conditions in at least six countries but focused mainly on Jordan, included photographs of some of the animals. One was Mencey, a 3-year-old Belgian Malinois, who contracted a tick-borne disease after arriving in Jordan in 2017 and was euthanized in the United States less than a year later after developing complications, the report said.

Athena, a 2-year-old of the same breed, was evacuated to the United States last year after American veterinarians who had been sent to assess the program in Jordan discovered she was severely emaciated, the report said. She recovered.