To Cathy Benavente

Your recent letter to me has proven to be a big disappointment. Your letter makes reference that you and a few others feel that my action in bringing the issue of an audit of AAFES is an attempt to meddle into the non-pay benefits that have been accorded to your family and others who have served or are currently serving in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.

First of all, each one of us has chosen what direction to take in our future endeavors. That you, your spouse or other members of your family chose to make the military a part of your future is commendable. While I personally have not chosen to make the military a part of my past or future, that does not make me immune to or insensitive to the plight of those with careers in the U.S. Armed Forces. Not taking the career path of joining the military does not make me a coward as you had inferred. Five of my siblings have joined and served in the military. I also have numerous friends and relatives who have served or are currently serving with distinction. That being the case, can you still assert that “I have declared war” on all military personnel as you implied in your letter? I would say NOT!

Let us now get to the point of your letter. As the former Director of the Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco Control Division of the Department of Commerce, I was tasked to oversee all aspects of the sale and distribution of all alcoholic beverage and tobacco products in the CNMI. During my tenure, my staff and I observed and obtained evidence that beer and tobacco products bought from the AAFES troop store at the USAR compound in Puerto Rico are being offered for sale at various retail outlets on Saipan. This is of grave concern since it meant that these products are being bought without the payment of local CNMI taxes and are then re-sold by unscrupulous retailers, in direct competition with other beer and tobacco products that have been imported legally into the CNMI with all local taxes paid by the distributors.

You and others entitled to AAFES-buying privileges have no reason to question my motives for requesting an audit of the AAFES sales. Subsequent investigations by AAFES have revealed that beer and tobacco products bought at the PX are finding their way into stocks being sold at various retail outlets on Saipan. Remember that the privileges to shop at the PX are meant to supplement the economic well-being of those families entitled to these savings. The control measures implemented by AAFES were devised to limit the amount of daily purchases and to curtail the continued practice of those members who have been guilty of re-selling these products for their own profits.

Recent OPA findings have also revealed that some members of the military and their families have purchased beer and tobacco products from the AAFES PX on Saipan and have made donations of these same products to political parties and candidates running for public office. Again, remember that only AAFES eligible shoppers can purchase products at the PX for their own use and not for financial or political gain. So I hope you can recognize that my efforts to request an audit of AAFES is not an effort to deny or curtail any privileges extended to any military family. Also for your information, the beer purchases were not made by all or a majority of those eligible families of 500 as stated in your letter. AAFES figures will reveal that only a small portion of those 500 families were purchasers of the over 70,000 cases of beer, so your math may be skewed and does not reflect your findings of 2.7 cases of beer per shopper, per week.

God Bless all our troops.

Andrew S. Salas
Secretary of Commerce