US defense secretary orders Pentagon to stop asking for repayment of enlistment bonuses

U.S. Secretary of Defence, Ash Carter, arrives for a meeting of the North Atlantic Council Defence Ministers session at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2016. (Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP)

obert D'Andrea, a retired Army major and Iraq war veteran, holds a frame with a photo of his team on his first deployment to Iraq in his home in Los Angeles, Friday, Oct. 21, 2016. Nearly 10,000 California National Guard soldiers have been ordered to repay huge enlistment bonuses. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times via AP)

California Army National Guard soldiers watch the arrival of the body of soldier Sean Walsh, who died on Nov. 16 during a combat operation in Afghanistan, at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, Calif., Nov. 30, 2011. (Paul Sakuma/File, AP)

BRUSSELS — U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter has ordered the Pentagon to stop seeking repayments of enlistment bonuses given to California National Guard members who served overseas.

His decision comes in the wake of angry reaction from members of Congress who demanded he relieve the burden on the Guard members. And the White House said President Barack Obama has warned the Defense Department not to “nickel and dime” service members who were victims of fraud by overzealous recruiters.

In a statement issued during a meeting of defense ministers in Brussels, Carter said effort to collect reimbursement should stop “as soon as is practical.”

He said he has ordered the department to set up a streamlined process by Jan. 1, 2017, to help the troops get relief from the repayment obligation, because the current program has moved too slowly.

“This process has dragged on too long, for too many service members,” Carter said. “Too many cases have languished without action. That’s unfair to service members and to taxpayers.”

He said the new process will put “as little burden as possible on any soldier who received an improper payment through no fault of his or her own. At the same time, it will respect our important obligation to the taxpayer.”

The plan, Carter said, is to complete all cases by next July 1. He said about 2,000 members of the California Guard have been asked to repay the erroneous payments.