Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) new rule on the regulation of exchanges and alternative trading systems (ATS). GAO noted that: (1) the rule would allow ATS to choose whether to register as national securities exchanges, or to register as broker-dealers, depending on their activities and trading volume; (2) in addition, Regulation ATS will require alternative trading systems that trade a certain volume of securities to make their best prices known to the public and allow non-subscribers access to those prices; (3) the final rule would also amend Rules 6a-1, 6a-2, and 6a-3 regarding registration as a national securities exchange; and (4) SEC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the electric power industry's vulnerability to year 2000 problems and the reported status of the industry's year 2000 readiness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federal offenders who were ordered to pay criminal fines and victim restitution, focusing on: (1) the percentage of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution in fiscal year (FY) 1997 and those who were not; (2) differences across judicial circuits and districts in the percent of offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution and those who were not; and (3) officials' opinions about possible reasons for those differences."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on federal courts and the differences that exist in ordering fines and restitution, focusing on: (1) the percentages of those offenders who were ordered to pay fines and restitution in fiscal year (FY) 1997 and those who were not; (2) differences across judicial circuits and districts in the percentages of those offenders who were ordered to pay fines or restitution and those who were not; and (3) officials' opinions about possible reasons for these differences."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed how well kinship care is serving foster children, focusing on the: (1) quality of care that children in kinship care receive compared with that received by other foster children, as measured by a caseworker's assessment of a caregiver's parenting skills, the extent to which a foster child is able to maintain contact with familiar people and surroundings, and a caregiver's willingness to enforce court-ordered restrictions on parental visits; (2) frequency with which state child welfare agencies pursue various permanent living arrangements and the time children in kinship care have spent in the system compared with other foster children; and (3) recent state initiatives intended to help ensure that children in kinship care receive good quality foster care and are placed in permanent homes in a timely manner."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how the Customs Service's Office of Regulatory Audit is conducting compliance assessment audits in the context of the Customs Service Modernization Act, focusing on: (1) procedures established by the act; and (2) Customs' policies and procedures for conducting the audits to identify any problems that might warrant GAO's further review."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed federal oversight of depository institutions' Internet banking activities, focusing on: (1) the risks posed by Internet banking and the extent of any industrywide Internet banking-related problems; (2) the methods used by regulators to track depository institutions' plans to provide Internet banking services; (3) how regulators examined Internet banking activities; and (4) the extent to which regulators examined firms providing Internet banking support services to depository institutions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the general and application controls that support key automated financial systems maintained and operated by the Bureau of Public Debt (BPD). GAO also followed up on the corrective actions BPD took in response to GAO's previous recommendations on improving BPD's financial system controls."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Justice's (DOJ) and selected U.S. Attorneys' Offices' implementation of the False Claims Act guidance, focusing on: (1) the status of DOJ's work groups efforts and the initiative-specific guidance they prepared; (2) DOJ's efforts to assess U.S. Attorneys' compliance with the guidance; (3) the implementation of the guidance at selected U.S. Attorneys' Offices; and (4) state hospital associations' concerns regarding DOJ's use of the False Claims Act."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's (NRC) participation in the International Nuclear Regulators Association, focusing on: (1) the Association's activities since it was created; (2) U.S. costs to support NRC's participation in the Association; (3) the views of NRC's commissioners and others on the benefits of the Association; and (4) other groups and activities that promote nuclear safety and the extent to which these groups duplicate the work of the Association."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) estimate for the cost to operate the International Space Station after assembly is completed, focusing on: (1) whether any space station-related costs are not included in NASA's estimate; (2) the level of uncertainty in the cost estimate for operations, especially with regard to the potential impact of changes in Russian participation; and (3) how NASA funding requirements will be reduced by sharing costs with international partners or through commercial use and operations."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the computer security aspects of critical infrastructure protection, focusing on federal agency performance in addressing computer security issues."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 readiness of state-administered federal programs, focusing on: (1) the reported year 2000 readiness of 10 key state-administered federal human services programs; and (2) federal activities to assess states' readiness for these 10 programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO discussed its review of the independent auditors' reports on the Department of Education's financial statements covering fiscal year (FY) 1998, focusing on: (1) weaknesses in the financial reporting process; (2) inadequate reconciliations of financial accounting records; and (3) inadequate controls over information systems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on management actions needed to answer basic research questions about Gulf War Illnesses, focusing on the: (1) amount of money the Departments of Veterans' Affairs (VA), Defense (D0D), and Health and Human Services (HHS) spent on research and investigation of Gulf War veterans' illnesses and health concerns in the fiscal years 1997 and 1998, including current and projected spending by the Office of the Special Assistant to the Deputy Secretary of Defense for Gulf War Illnesses; (2) productivity of this research spending, including the extent to which the Coordinating Board has determined that federal research objectives have been satisfied, and the extent to which the research has resulted in peer-reviewed publications and the identification of the causes or successful treatments for Gulf War veterans' illnesses; (3) extent of coordination between the Research Working Group of the Coordinating Board and the Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses; and (4) Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf War Illnesses' contract management."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Air Mobility Command's airlift rates, focusing on the: (1) extent to which the Air Mobility Command has reliable financial information for managing airlift transportation services; and (2) factors affecting efficient cost control of airlift services."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on various costs aspects of the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), focusing on the: (1) federal and nonfederal sources and amounts of funding and in-kind contributions received by state-level and local WIC agencies and Indian tribal organizations for WIC nutrition services and administration; (2) amount and type of expenditures for nutrition services and administration made by these agencies and Indian tribal organizations; and (3) extent to which the Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) and Department of Agriculture (USDA) identified questionable expenditures for nutrition services and administration during their evaluations of these activities."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed Medicare beneficiaries' use of screening and diagnostic services to prevent colorectal cancer, focusing on: (1) the extent to which Medicare beneficiaries (both aged and disabled) are using colorectal cancer screening and diagnostic services; and (2) efforts to address barriers identified as limiting use."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) Material Protection, Control, and Accounting program, which is designed to improve nuclear material security in Russian facilities, focusing on the: (1) number of buildings that have received nuclear material security systems and the amount of nuclear material that is protected under the systems; and (2) program's costs to date, including a breakdown of program expenditures, the amount of program funds that did not go directly to program activities but have been paid in Russian taxes, and the estimated cost to complete the program."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the U.S. programs to reduce the threats that the former Soviet Union's weapons of mass destruction pose to U.S. national security, focusing on: (1) GAO's overall observations regarding these programs' cost and impact; and (2) some questions for Congress to consider in reviewing current and future budget requests for these programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the security of the nation's air transportation system, focusing on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) efforts to implement and improve security in two key areas: (1) air traffic control computer systems; and (2) airport passenger screening checkpoints."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the issues the two have in relation to the Shad-Johnson Jurisdictional Accord, focusing on: (1) the extent to which U.S. securities, foreign futures, and over-the-counter (OTC) markets trade stock-based derivatives that are economically similar to the futures prohibited from trading by the accord; (2) the potential effect of the accord trading prohibitions on derivatives market participants; (3) concerns about calls to repeal the accord trading prohibitions; and (4) jurisdictional and other approaches to addressing these concerns."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed federal efforts to combat terrorism, focusing on the: (1) need to link threats to strategies and resources in federal efforts to combat terrorism; (2) need to improve federal and state intergovernmental coordination and program issues; and (3) findings of a report from the Advisory Panel to Assess Domestic Response Capabilities for Terrorism Involving Weapons of Mass Destruction--better known as the Gilmore Panel."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Defense Security Service's (DSS) personnel security investigation program, focusing on: (1) how decisions to grant or deny security clearances to Department of Defense (DOD) employees and contractors are made; (2) key findings from GAO's October 1999 report; and (3) DOD's actions on GAO's recommendations."