Memorandum of Meeting with Naval Air Depot North Island staff regarding a briefing and tour of the Naval Air Depot.

Memorandum of Meeting with Fort Benning, Georgia community representatives to discuss BRAC recommendations.

Memorandum of Meeting with representatives from Arlington County, Virginia. Community officials reiterated and expanded on the briefing presented at the BRAC Northern Virginia Regional Hearing held on July 7, 2005.

Disregard restriction header and footer - BRAC 2005 Meeting minutes of the JCSG dated 24 March 2005

Executive Correspondence – Fax dtd 05/07/05 to Commission senior analyst Brad McCree from LtCol Currier forwarding the data to be presented at the 07/06/05 Regional Hearing by the 103rd Fighter Wing in East Granby CT.

Executive Correspondence – Fax dtd 07/05/05 Charlie Battaglia from Mrs. Connie Wachsmuth of OASD(LA) providing answers to questions 4, 6, 7, and 12.

Executive Correspondence - Fax from Mass. State Senator Therese Murray to the Commission dtd 5 July 2005. The fax is a letter concerning the closure of Otis Air National Guard Base.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) procedures and guidelines require that program and project managers review and apply lessons learned from the past throughout a program's or project's life cycle. Managers must also document and submit any significant lessons learned in a timely manner. NASA's principal mechanism for collecting and sharing lessons learned from programs, projects, and missions agency wide is the Lessons Learned Information System. The goal of the system is to prevent NASA from having to "relearn" the lessons of the past. NASA also shares lessons learned through revisions to its policies and guidance. Furthermore, lessons learned from a mishap or operational event are captured in procedure and process documents. GAO surveyed all of NASA's program and project managers to obtain their perspectives on NASA's mechanisms to ensure that past lessons learned from mission failures are being applied. GAO found fundamental weaknesses in the collection and sharing of lessons learned in NASA by program and project managers as well as in the system. Although some lessons learning does take place, lessons are not routinely identified, collected, or shared by program and project managers. In addition, …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Oil and gas production from federal lands and waters is critical to meeting the nation's energy needs. This production provided about 31 percent of all oil and 29 percent of all natural gas produced in the United States in fiscal year 2007. Every five years, the federal government decides the areas in the offshore waters of the United States it will offer for leasing and establishes a schedule for individual lease sales. The Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service (MMS) has conducted these sales at least once per year for at least the past 30 years. During the sales, oil and gas companies bid for the rights to explore and develop the oil and gas resources on these leases and also agree to pay the federal government royalties on the resources produced. In 1995, a time when oil and natural gas prices were significantly lower than they are today, Congress passed the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act (DWRRA), which authorized MMS to provide "royalty relief" on oil and gas produced in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico from certain leases issued from …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "We have performed the procedures contained in this report, which we agreed to perform and with which the Inspector General (IG) of the Department of Transportation concurred, solely to assist that office in ascertaining whether the net excise tax revenue distributed to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF) for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2004, is supported by the underlying records. We evaluated fiscal year 2004 activity affecting distributions to the AATF. The adequacy of the procedures to meet the IG's objectives is the IG's responsibility, and we make no representation in that respect. The procedures we agreed to perform were (1) detailed tests of transactions that represent the underlying basis of amounts distributed to the AATF, (2) review of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) quarterly AATF certifications, (3) review of the Department of the Treasury's Financial Management Service adjustments to the AATF for fiscal year 2004, (4) review of IRS's precertification1 of receipts for the second and third quarters of fiscal year 2004, (5) review of certain procedures of the Department of the Treasury's Office of Tax Analysis' (OTA) estimation procedures affecting excise tax distributions …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Last year, GAO reported that the demilitarization liability for excess ammunition was not reflected in the Department of Defense's (DOD) financial statements although required by federal financial accounting standards. The Army, as the single manager for conventional ammunition, calculated a liability of $1.2 billion and prepared a voucher recognizing this amount. Although consistent with GAO's recommendation that DOD include the total liability for demilitarizing excess ammunition in its annual financial statements, this amount does not reflect the full extent of future costs. Specifically, the Army does not recognize a liability for costs associated with the demilitarization of (1) excess ammunition overseas or (2) excess Army-owned war reserve ammunition, excess retail ammunition, and excess ammunition not stored at an Army installation. GAO found that the total liability that should be reflected in fiscal year 2002 financial statements could amount to $3 billion, or $1.8 billion more than the Army's calculation. The Army needs to submit an additional voucher and include in its and DOD's fiscal year 2002 consolidated balance sheets the future liability associated with the demilitarization of excess Army ammunition at overseas and military storage locations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed census data to better clarify the relationship between the Census Bureau's data collection workload and the time and work force needed to complete it. These factors--used to calculate productivity--are some of the largest drivers of census costs, and the Bureau developed its budget for the 2000 Census using a model that contained key assumptions about expected workload and enumerator productivity. GAO was unable to calculate productivity levels for the 2000 census or most of the earlier censuses examined because data was largely unavailable, incomplete, or not comparable. Moreover, definitional differences in how the Bureau counted the number of enumerators who worked on the census, and variations in census-taking methodologies, limited the comparability of productivity data from one census to the next."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "From 1996 to 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) conducted a cleanup action on a former zinc smelter operated by Eagle-Picher Mining and Smelting, Inc. and other areas contaminated by materials from this site near Henryetta, Oklahoma. EPA's cleanup focused on removing the immediate health threat posed by lead- and arsenic-contaminated soil transported from the Eagle-Picher site to residential and other highly accessible areas. Cleanup actions on the Eagle-Picher site involved establishing proper drainage on the site, encapsulating the Eagle-Picher site with clay and cover soil, and establishing vegetative cover at the site to protect nearby residents from the recontamination from wind and water erosion of hazardous materials. Since completion of the cleanup, private landowners of a neighboring property have raised concerns about contamination of their property resulting from EPA's cleanup actions. Landowners allege that EPA, through its contractors, transported and negligently disposed of hazardous substances on their property. The landowners also allege that EPA's actions at the site contributed to the migration of contamination from the Eagle-Picher site onto their property. These landowners are currently pursuing litigation against EPA and the city of Henryetta for damages …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) oversight and management of its major projects. As you know, in 1990, GAO designated NASA's contract management as high risk in view of persistent cost growth and schedule slippage in the majority of its major projects. Since that time, GAO's high-risk work has focused on identifying a number of causal factors, including antiquated financial management systems, poor cost estimating, and undefinitized contracts. Because cost growth and schedule delays persist, this area - now titled acquisition management because of the scope of issues that need to be resolved - remains high risk. To its credit, NASA has recently made a concerted effort to improve its acquisition management. In 2007, NASA developed a comprehensive plan to address systemic weaknesses related to how it manages its acquisitions. The plan specifically seeks to strengthen program/project management, increase accuracy in cost estimating, facilitate monitoring of contractor cost performance, improve agency wide business processes, and improve financial management. While we applaud these efforts our recent work has shown that NASA needs to pay more attention to effective project management. It needs to adopt best …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Improper payments are a long-standing, widespread, and significant problem in the federal government. The Congress enacted the Improper Payments Information Act of 2002 (IPIA) to address this issue. Fiscal year 2005 marked the second year that agencies were required to report improper payment information under IPIA. One result of IPIA has been increased visibility over improper payments by requiring executive branch agencies to identify programs and activities susceptible to significant improper payments, estimate the amount of their improper payments, and report on the amounts of improper payments and their actions to reduce them in their annual performance and accountability reports (PAR). Because of continued interest in addressing the governmentwide improper payments issue, GAO was asked to report on the progress made by agencies in complying with requirements of IPIA and the status of efforts to identify, reduce, and eliminate improper payments. As part of the review, GAO looked at (1) the extent to which agencies have performed risk assessments, (2) the annual amount of improper payments estimated, and (3) the amount of improper payments recouped through recovery audits."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The recent sudden and largely unexpected bankruptcy of the Enron Corporation, and financial difficulties experienced by several other large corporations have resulted in substantial losses to employees and shareholders. Many believe that the decline of Enron and other instances of financial statement earnings restatements and bankruptcies have seriously undermined investor confidence in the nation's financial markets and external auditors. The findings from GAO's forum on corporate governance, transparency, and accountability."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress asked GAO to estimate the state allocations that would likely occur if an across-the-board percentage point increase in the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) replaced Section 5001 of the proposed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, while maintaining the same funding level that the Congressional Budget Office estimated for this section. This correspondence responds to your request for state-by-state, quarter-by-quarter estimates of the Medicaid funding states would receive with such an across-the-board increase."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American National Theatre and Academy for fiscal years 2004 and 2003. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the National Fund for Medical Education for fiscal year 2004. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditors' opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses GAO's efforts to coordinate with the accountability community--the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board (the Board), the Inspectors General (IGs), and state and local government auditors--to help ensure effective and efficient oversight of American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) funds. The Recovery Act assigns GAO a range of responsibilities including bimonthly reviews of the use of funds by selected states and localities. Because funding streams will flow from federal agencies to the states and localities, it is important for us to coordinate with the accountability community. Also, on March 19, 2009, GAO testified before this Subcommittee about the more than $21 billion in Recovery Act funds estimated to be spent for research and development (R&D) activities at four federal agencies. This statement discusses (1) GAO's efforts to fulfill its responsibilities under the Recovery Act; (2) GAO's coordination with others in the accountability community; (3) GAO's authorities to assist whistleblowers and elicit public concerns; and (4) updated information on the status of Recovery Act funds for R&D. It is based in part on GAO's first bimonthly Recovery Act report, Recovery Act: As Initial Implementation Unfolds in …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In March 2009, out of concern that the overall security situation in Afghanistan had not improved after more than 7 years of U.S. and international efforts, the administration completed a 60-day strategic review of U.S. policy and the security environment in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Based on this review, and recognizing the vital U.S. interest in addressing security threats posed by extremists in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the administration announced a strategic goal of disrupting, dismantling, and eventually defeating these extremists and eliminating their safe havens in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. Subsequently, in August 2009, the United States issued an integrated civilian-military campaign plan for support to Afghanistan. The strategy and campaign plan call for, among other things, the execution of an integrated counterinsurgency mission and continued efforts to build the capacity of military and civilian elements of the Afghan government to lead counterinsurgency and counterterrorism efforts and provide internal security for the Afghan people. Accordingly, the focus for U.S. forces in Afghanistan will be to (1) secure Afghanistan from insurgent and terrorist threats and (2) rapidly train Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) to lead military and law enforcement operations."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of Little League Baseball, Inc., for fiscal years 2005 and 2004. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit reports included the auditor's opinions that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO reviewed the audit reports covering the financial statements of the American National Theater and Academy, for the fiscal years 2001 and 2000. GAO found no reportable instances of noncompliance. The audit report included the auditors' opinion that the financial statements of the corporation were presented fairly in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles."

A statement of record issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In recent years, some reports prepared by advocacy groups have raised issues concerning the adequacy of the Park Service's financial resources needed to effectively operate the park units. This statement addresses (1) funding trends for park service operations and visitor fees for fiscal years 2001-2005; (2) specific funding trends for 12 selected high-visitation park units and how, if at all, the funding trends have affected operations; and (3) recent management initiatives the Park Service has undertaken to address fiscal performance and accountability of park units. This statement is based on GAO's March 2006 report, National Park Service: Major Operations Funding Trends and How Selected Park Units Responded to Those Trends for Fiscal Years 2001 through 2005, GAO-06-431 (Washington, D.C.: March 31, 2006)."