A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is responsible for ensuring that U.S. contractors safeguard classified information in their possession. DOD delegates this responsibility to its Defense Security Service (DSS), which oversees more than 11,000 contractor facilities that are cleared to access classified information. Some U.S. contractors have foreign connections that may require measures to be put into place to reduce the risk of foreign interests gaining unauthorized access to classified information. In response to a Senate report accompanying the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2004, GAO assessed the extent to which DSS has assurance that its approach provides sufficient oversight of contractors under foreign ownership, control, or influence (FOCI)."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since 2001, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) has been working to acquire the Electronic Records Archives (ERA) system. In August 2004, NARA awarded two contracts to design the ERA system. The agency plans to select one of the resulting designs for the development of the system in August 2005. Conference Report 108-792 directed GAO to report on ERA's costs, schedule, and performance. Our objectives were to determine (1) the extent to which NARA has achieved the ERA program's cost, schedule, and performance objectives and the extent to which the agency has identified risks to future objectives; and (2) the status of NARA's efforts to address prior GAO recommendations on the acquisition."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies rely extensively on computerized information systems and electronic data to carry out their missions. The security of these systems and data is essential to prevent data tampering, disruptions in critical operations, fraud, and inappropriate disclosure of sensitive information. Concerned with accounts of attacks on systems via the Internet and reports of significant weaknesses in federal computer systems that make them vulnerable to attack, Congress passed the Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA) in 2002. In accordance with FISMA requirements that the Comptroller General report periodically to the Congress, GAO's objectives in this report are to evaluate (1) the adequacy and effectiveness of agencies' information security policies and practices and (2) the federal government's implementation of FISMA requirements."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "While the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Protection Act repealed a 45 minute standard for inspecting international passengers, minimizing wait times at airports remains an area of concern for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Shortly after its creation in March 2003, CBP assumed inspection functions from the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the U.S. Customs Service, and the Department of Agriculture. The new agency's priority missions are to prevent terrorism and to facilitate travel and trade. To assess CBP's efforts to minimize wait times for international air passengers while ensuring security, this report answers the following questions: (1) What are the wait times at the 20 U.S. international airports that receive most of the international traffic and what factors affect wait times? (2) What steps have airports and airlines taken to minimize passenger wait times? (3) How has CBP managed staffing to minimize wait times across airports?"

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "A successful terrorist attack on a Department of Energy (DOE) site containing nuclear weapons material could have devastating effects for the site and nearby communities. DOE's Office of the Under Secretary for Energy, Science and Environment (ESE), which is responsible for DOE operations in areas such as energy research, manages five sites that contain weapons-grade nuclear material. A heavily armed paramilitary force equipped with such items as automatic weapons protects ESE sites. GAO was asked to examine (1) the extent to which ESE protective forces are meeting DOE's existing readiness requirements and (2) the actions DOE and ESE will need to take to successfully defend against the terrorist threat identified in the October 2004 design basis threat (DBT) by DOE's implementation deadline of October 2008."