Memorandum of meeting between Navy Officials and BRAC Officials concerning BRAC actions affecting Point Mugu Naval Base, Ventura County, CA.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Members of the military have long been required to receive immunizations. The Department of Defense (DOD) estimates that over 2.2 million servicemembers receive at least one mandatory immunization annually. Immunizations are provided through the administration of vaccines, which contain "antigens" or parts of a specific virus or bacterium that are used to trigger an immune response to protect the body from disease. DOD's immunization requirements vary depending on several factors, such as a servicemember's branch of military service, location, age, and type of personnel, such as newly enlisted recruits, those conducting high-risk travel, and reserve forces. No immunization is completely safe. Like all individuals, servicemembers may experience side-effects as a result of their immunizations, known as adverse events. Most adverse events consist of relatively mild reactions, such as swelling near the site of the immunization. However, a small number of individuals may experience more severe reactions, such as some servicemembers who received the anthrax and smallpox vaccines. Some servicemembers who received these vaccines experienced severe reactions such as migraines, heart problems, and the onset of diseases including diabetes and multiple sclerosis. Since then, the adverse events associated with …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The mission of the Department of the Interior's (DOI) Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) includes administering a national network of refuges for the conservation, management, and, where appropriate, restoration of fish, wildlife, and plant resources and their habitats within the United States for the benefit of present and future generations. The refuges are unique in that they are the only federal lands managed primarily for the benefit of wildlife. The refuge system's 95 million acres, which represent more than 14 percent of all federal lands and are found in every state, include land that has always been federally owned and land that has been acquired from others. While the federal government owns almost all of the surface lands in the system, in many cases it does not own the subsurface mineral rights. Subject to some restrictions, owners of subsurface mineral rights have the legal authority to explore for mineral resources such as oil and gas and to extract resources that are found. In August 2003, we reported that oil and gas activities were occurring on many wildlife refuges and that little was known about the effects of those …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center exposed the vulnerability of the financial markets to disruption by such events. As part of a series of reviews we have performed at the request of Members of Congress, we have examined and reported on the adequacy of the steps that financial market participants have taken to reduce their vulnerability to attacks and to be better able to recover from such events when they occur. In addition to taking steps to reduce the likelihood that physical attacks will damage their facilities, financial market organizations must also implement protections to reduce the potential for electronic attacks to disrupt their operations. Electronic attacks can be the result of individuals (such as hackers) or groups, such terrorist organizations or foreign governments, attempting to gain unauthorized access to a specific organization's networks or systems or from malicious computer programs or codes, such as viruses or worms, that seek to damage data or deny access to legitimate users. Given the importance of this topic, Congress asked us to review the measures taken by selected critical financial market organizations, including exchanges, clearing organizations, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In our role as principal auditor of the consolidated financial statements of the U.S. government (CFS), we plan to use the work of the inspectors general and contracted independent public accountants who audit the agency-level financial statements. The development of the joint PCIE/GAO Financial Audit Manual (FAM) has provided a common framework and methodology for federal financial statement auditing. Adherence to the FAM will enable us to readily review the work of other auditors as a basis for using that work under auditing standards. We want to all be on the same page so that we are in the position to use the work of the inspectors general. Certain CFS line items that will be subject to our concurrent review because of their significance, such as the federal employee and veteran benefits payable line item, involve federal agencies' significant actuarial estimations. Statement on Auditing Standards (SAS) No. 57, Auditing Accounting Estimates applies to such estimations. In addition, Statement of Federal Financial Accounting Standard (SFFAS) No. 5 requires that federal agencies disclose specific information in their financial statements for pensions, other retirement benefits, and other postemployment benefits. Additional related …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses (1) whether the goals of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Restructuring Act's goals are realistic and (2) disagreements between the IRS Oversight Board, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA), and GAO on the act's funding issues. GAO found that the act's goals of meeting taxpayers' needs while ensuring compliance with the tax laws require a massive modernization of IRS. These changes involve major management challenges and will require considerable time to implement. Although IRS officials believe that they have complied with the act's requirements, they are still learning how to effectively manage in the new environment. GAO believes that it is premature to consider significant changes to the act. Differences exist among the Oversight Board, TIGTA, and GAO with respect to specific IRS funding issues."

Guidance issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This publication has been superseded by GAO-07-1173G, Financial Audit Manual: Volume Three, August 2007. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the President's Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) maintain the GAO/PCIE Financial Audit Manual (FAM). The FAM provides guidance for performing financial statement audits of federal entities. The FAM is a key tool for enhancing accountability over taxpayer-provided resources."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the training efforts of the U.S. Department of State's (State) Bureau of Diplomatic Security (Diplomatic Security). The testimony is based on our report, which is being released today. Diplomatic Security is responsible for the protection of people, information, and property at over 400 embassies, consulates, and domestic locations and, as we reported in previous testimony, experienced a large growth in its budget and personnel over the last decade. Diplomatic Security trains its workforce and others to address a variety of threats, including crime, espionage, visa and passport fraud, technological intrusions, political violence, and terrorism. To meet its training needs, Diplomatic Security relies primarily on its Diplomatic Security Training Center (DSTC), which is an office of Diplomatic Security's Training Directorate and is the primary provider of Diplomatic Security training. Diplomatic Security's training budget grew steadily from fiscal years 2006 to 2010--increasing from approximately $24 million in fiscal year 2006 to nearly $70 million in fiscal year 2010. In fiscal year 2010, DSTC conducted 342 sessions of its 61 courses and trained 4,739 students. Our prior work identified the challenges that Diplomatic Security experienced as a result …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Referred to as our "third border," the Caribbean Basin has significant maritime links with the United States. Given these links and the region's proximity, the United States is particularly interested in ensuring that the ports in the Caribbean Basin--through which goods bound for this country's ports and cruise ships carrying its citizens must travel--are secure. Section 233 (c) of the Security and Accountability for Every Port Act of 2006 (SAFE Port Act) requires GAO to report on various security-related aspects of Caribbean Basin ports. Our specific objectives were to identify and describe the (1) threats and security concerns in the Caribbean Basin related to port security, (2) actions that foreign governments and local stakeholders have taken in the Caribbean Basin to implement international port security requirements and the challenges that remain, (3) activities reported to be under way by U.S. government agencies to enhance port security in the Caribbean Basin, and (4) potential economic impacts of port security and terrorist attacks in the Caribbean Basin. Between March 29 and April 13, 2007, we briefed Congress on the results of our work to address these objectives. This report summarizes …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the General Services Administration's (GSA) on-line ordering system, GSA Advantage, focusing on: (1) vendor concerns; and (2) the Federal Supply Service's (FSS) views on the concerns and the actions it is taking to improve Advantage."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Our analysis of DOD’s fiscal year 2011 update relating to the BRAC 2005 budget submission to Congress shows that one-time implementation costs grew from $21 billion originally estimated by the BRAC Commission in 2005 to about $35.1 billion, an increase of about $14.1 billion, or 67 percent, largely due to increased construction costs. We compared the BRAC Commission’s 2005 estimates to DOD’s fiscal year 2011 budget submission and found that 14 of 182 BRAC recommendations accounted for about 72 percent of the cost increase, or about $10.2 billion. Our analysis of those 14 recommendations shows that increased construction costs resulted primarily from additional building projects and additions to planned projects, which DOD deemed necessary after implementation began. For example, one-time costs for realigning the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency more than doubled from $1.1 billion to $2.6 billion, with military construction accounting for nearly $726 million of that increase due to additional supporting facilities the agency identified as essential to the mission. Overall, military construction costs for the BRAC 2005 round increased 86 percent, from $13.2 billion estimated by the BRAC Commission to $24.5 billion according to DOD’s fiscal year …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) administration of grants for environmental programs and projects. GAO focuses on the (1) total dollar amounts by type of grants awarded, (2) type of entities receiving these grants, (3) EPA offices awarding grants, and (4) congressional and other concerns raised by EPA grant activities. GAO found that EPA awarded about $16.7 billion in grants for fiscal years 1996 through 2000. States were the major recipients of continuing environmental program funds, while nonprofit organizations were the major recipients of project grants. EPA's Office of Water awarded half of all continuing environmental program grants, while the Offices of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, Research and Development, and Water awarded most project grants. Congressional committees and EPA's Inspector General conducted several inquiries into EPA's management of grants."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "NGA modified the original scope of work for the Technology Center but met the original data-storage requirement. DOD has limited written guidance on what constitutes a complete and usable facility. However, NGA, Office of the Secretary of Defense, and Army officials believe the Technology Center constitutes a complete and usable facility because it meets its intended purpose of creating 10 petabytes of data storage to replace the data-storage capabilities at the sites that were closed by the implementation of BRAC Recommendation 168. Although the construction of NGA’s new Technology Center was planned as part of the implementation of a BRAC recommendation to consolidate various NGA satellite locations at a new NGA facility, advances in data-storage technology led NGA to revise downward the space in the Technology Center that it would need to fit out to accommodate its data-storage needs. NGA also increased the electrical density in the new facility, even though the amount of space was reduced. As a result, NGA modified the original scope of work for the center during the course of the BRAC construction project, and one of the two floors of the new building …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As the electricity industry restructures, California and the west have witnessed extraordinarily high wholesale prices and sharp limitations on the availability of electricity. In California, high prices have led to financial problems for the state's utilities, power outages, and rate increases. In other Western states, the high prices have also led to rate increases for consumers. This report assesses the outlook for California's electricity supplies this summer. Because of a lack of timely direct access to key information and limitation in other data, GAO was unable to assess likely conditions in California. To make an independent, reliable assessment, GAO would need access to data underlying key supply and demand factors, such as power plant outages and electricity supplies that could be imported into California. Furthermore, forecasts of California's electricity market show stark differences in the expected conditions this summer."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The size and scope of the devastation caused by the 2005 Gulf Coast hurricanes presents the nation with unprecedented rebuilding challenges. These storms destroyed wide swaths of housing, infrastructure, and businesses and displaced hundreds of thousands of people from their homes. Today, nearly two years since these hurricanes made landfall, rebuilding efforts are at a critical turning point. The Gulf Coast and the nation are facing the daunting challenges of rebuilding. Our recent work in southern Louisiana and New Orleans confirms that some communities are still without basic needs, such as schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure, while the doors of many businesses remain closed. Over the coming years, perhaps decades, many neighborhoods and communities will need to be rebuilt--some from the ground up. At the same time, major decisions will need to be made regarding a wide range of issues including coastal restoration, levee protection, infrastructure, land use, and economic recovery. Agreeing on what rebuilding will be done, where, how, and--particularly important--who will bear the costs will be key to moving forward with the rebuilding process. To assist Congress in its oversight responsibilities, GAO briefed Congress on several …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has long held the position that financial regulators can benefit from improved information sharing. As regulators are faced with the challenges of overseeing a myriad of financial products, along with the individuals and organizations that develop and sell them, information sharing among regulators serves as a key defense against fraud and market abuses. However, our system of financial regulation is fragmented and, in many cases, isolated among numerous federal and state financial regulators overseeing the securities, insurance, and banking industries. While there has been a greater effort to improve communication in recent years, the routine sharing of information between the regulators of the three major financial industries--securities, insurance, and banking--continues to be a source of concern. At Congress' request, we have issued reports and testimonies in recent years discussing the benefits of improved sharing of criminal and regulatory information and the consequences of failing to adequately share such information. This report focuses on three areas where greater attention is needed to improve information-sharing capabilities among financial services regulators. First, we highlight the need for insurance regulators to have more consistent access to the Federal Bureau of Investigation …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins ""

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Many factors contribute to an organization's success in accomplishing its mission, but none more than the effective management and utilization of its greatest asset--its employees. A high-performing organization relies on a dynamic workforce with the requisite talents, multidisciplinary knowledge, and up-to-date skills to ensure that it is equipped to accomplish its mission and achieve its goals. An effective performance management system can help an organization manage the day-to-day activities that allow employees to perform at their highest levels by creating a clear linkage--"line of sight"--between individual performance and organizational success. In the current environment where federal agencies are facing the challenges of transforming themselves, some agencies have begun to create results-oriented organizational cultures where unit and individual performance is linked to organizational goals. Effective performance management systems can help create such cultures by providing objective information to allow managers to make meaningful distinctions in performance in order to reward top performers and deal with poor performers. For example, final regulations establishing the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) new human capital system state that DHS supervisors and managers are to be held accountable for making meaningful distinctions among employees …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Internet protocol (IP) provides the addressing mechanism that defines how and where information such as text, voice, and video moves across interconnected networks. Internet protocol version 4 (IPv4), which is widely used today, may not be able to accommodate the increasing number of global users and devices that are connecting to the Internet. As a result, IP version 6 (IPv6) was developed to increase the amount of available IP address space. The new protocol is gaining increased attention from regions with limited IP addresses. For its testimony, GAO was asked to discuss the findings and recommendations of its recent study of IPv6 (GAO-05-471). In this study, GAO was asked to (1) describe the key characteristics of IPv6; (2) identify the key planning considerations for federal agencies in transitioning to IPv6; and (3) determine the progress made by the Department of Defense (DOD) and other major agencies in the transition to IPv6."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the status of efforts by the Forest Service to develop a cohesive strategy to reduce the threat of catastrophic wildfires in national forests in the interior West."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Customs Service's progress in addressing the year 2000 computing problem."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS), focusing on: (1) difficulties in developing WAAS; (2) actions FAA is taking to get the system on track; and (3) next steps for FAA to take to help mitigate future delays in implementing WAAS."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the: (1) status of efforts by the Forest Service to become more accountable for what it accomplishes with appropriated funds; and (2) actions still needed for the agency to provide Congress and the public with a better understanding of its performance."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "More international students obtain a higher education in the United States than in any other country, and they make valuable contributions while they are here. For those students returning home after their studies, such exchanges support federal public diplomacy efforts and can improve understanding among nations. International students have earned about one-third or more of all U.S. degrees at both the master's and doctoral levels in several of the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields. Yet recent trends, including a drop in international student enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities, and policy changes after September 11, 2001, have raised concerns about whether the United States will continue to attract talented international students to its universities. This testimony is based on ongoing and published GAO work. It includes themes from a September 2006 Comptroller General's forum on current trends in international student enrollment in the United States and abroad. Invitees to the forum included experts from the Congress, federal agencies, universities, research institutions, higher education organizations, and industry."