After just four months in Kabul, the chief of a new military unit charged with getting rid of corruption in military contracting for Afghanistan has been replaced. The NATO command says her departure is all part of a normal rotation. But her replacement is a relatively junior officer, raising questions about the military's commitment to rooting out corruption in its own contract practices – right as the Obama administration rethinks how important anti-corruption efforts really are.

The Pentagon quietly announced yesterday that Rear Admiral Kathleen Dussault is out as commander of Task Force 2010, a unit co-established by General David Petraeus to ensure that the military's contracting dollars in Afghanistan don't inadvertently fund corrupt businesses, warlords or insurgents. A congressional report issued shortly before her arrival found that the U.S.' lack of visibility into the practices of its often-shady subcontractors undermines Afghan stability. In an interview with Danger Room shortly after arriving in Kabul in June to stand up the command, Dussault predicted that getting the military out of the thicket of unintended kickbacks to "powerbrokers" and the Taliban would require "limiting some partnerships that we’re in right now, apply more controls in a number of them, and in some cases, we’re going to need to walk away from some providers."

A spokesman for the NATO command in Afghanistan, Major Joel Harper, said that Dussault wasn't fired and only "planned on having the job for four months." Her team's performance of what she called "financial forensics" contributed to Petraeus's revised guidelines on troop contracting, and she participated in Kabul press briefings during its roll-out last week, Harper added. According to the top brass in Afghanistan, Dussault didn't under-perform.

But the task force's future operations are in question – and the Obama administration is engaging in a Hamlet-esque debate about how central anti-corruption efforts really are to the Afghanistan war. Dussault is a two-star admiral. Her replacement is an Army one-star, Brigadier General Ross Ridge.

Their backgrounds are notably different as well. Dussault ran the Joint Contracting Command for Iraq and Afghanistan, working for Petraeus during the troop surge in Iraq. Ridge served in Iraq during the surge as well, working for Petraeus's Strategic Effects Directorate. But he doesn't have any contracting experience on his resume (PDF). His current job is to run the Army's Field Artillery School at Fort Sill.

But Harper says not to expect a reduction in the task force's responsibilities or influence despite the change in command. "Task Force 2010 is thankful for the valuable contributions of RADM Dussault and is looking forward to the arrival of Brig. Gen. Ridge," he says in an email. "In the meantime, Task Force 2010's mission to analyze contracting and subcontracting matters continues." Ridge is apparently expected to hit the ground running. His first round recommendations on contracting reform are expected "in the mid-to late-October timeframe."

Dussault will return to the staff of the Chief of Naval Operations, the Navy's top officer, as Director of Supply, Ordnance and Logistics.

Credit: U.S. Navy

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