Collection of BRAC related news articles and clippings. Produced for Commission staff review.

Supplemental articles from the Marine Corps Times.

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Response: DoD Clearinghouse response to an e-mail from the BRAC Commission regarding Air Force consideration of costs to other federal agencies.

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Resposne: DoD Clearinghouse response to a letter from the BRAC Commission regarding NI Industries at Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant.

Department of Defense Clearinghouse Response: DoD Clearinghouse response to a letter from the BRAC Commission requesting breakout of criteria 1-4 scores for all four Naval Shipyards.

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 seeks to ensure equal opportunity for persons with disabilities in employment, transportation, and other matters. ADA sets minimum standards for the accessibility of public transportation systems. For example, for persons unable to use a fixed-route bus or rail system due to disability, transit systems must provide service within three-quarters of a mile of the fixed-route service and during the same hours as the fixed-route service. In February 2001, the Bush Administration announced the New Freedom Initiative, a comprehensive program intended to extend and enhance efforts begun under ADA to help bring Americans with disabilities into mainstream life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2005 there were about 40 million noninstitutionalized persons over the age of 5 with one or more disabilities. In August 2005, the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act--A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) authorized the New Freedom program, to be administered by the Department of Transportation's Federal Transit Administration (FTA). This program is designed to support new public transportation services and public transportation alternatives beyond those required by ADA. Congress appropriated $77.2 million for the New …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This letter responds to Congress' request of June 22, 2005, that we provide answers to questions relating to our June 14 testimony on the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA). At the June hearing, we discussed the estimates of government paperwork burden provided in the annual PRA report (known as the Information Collection Budget) that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recently released, as well as results from our report on agencies' PRA processes and compliance."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Section 127a, title 10 of the United States Code provides the Department of Defense (DOD) with two options for funding nontraining deployments and operations when Congress has not provided funds in advance. These options involve waiving reimbursements for support services and transferring amounts from other DOD accounts. Section 127a prescribes specific procedures to be followed by DOD when these funding options are used; requires DOD to notify Congress of and report on certain new contingency operations; and states that the Comptroller General of the United States shall from time to time, and when requested by a Committee of Congress, conduct a review to determine whether DOD is complying with the statutory requirements and limitations. GAO found that DOD has complied with the requirements contained in section 127a. Since the current notification and reporting requirements of section 127a were enacted in 1996, DOD has provided congressional notification for four operations, involving Bosnia, Kosovo, hurricane relief in Central America, and East Timor. DOD has rarely used the funding options provided in section 127a. It used the section 127a funding option allowing waiver of reimbursement for units providing support once, for …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Pakistan is central to U.S. efforts to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al Qaeda and deny its resurgence in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region. The United States has sought to secure these interests through counterterrorism and counterinsurgency cooperation, as well as through a long-term partnership anchored, in part, by increased civilian and military assistance. Since fiscal year 2002, the U.S. government has provided the Pakistani government almost $21 billion in assistance and reimbursements toward these goals. However, al Qaeda and other terrorists and violent extremists continue to promote instability and use safe havens in Pakistan's western border region to plan and train for attacks against U.S. interests. At the same time, the United States continues to be concerned with the ongoing effect of A. Q. Khan's illicit transfer of nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea, and Libya. To address these and other concerns, in October 2009, Congress enacted the Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009, which, among other things, limits certain security-related assistance to Pakistan each fiscal year from 2011 through 2014. Before the United States can provide security-related assistance to Pakistan in each of those fiscal years, the Secretary …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO examined the the Department of Defense's (DOD) initiatives to change export and procurement policies and procedures that relate to the transfer or sale of defense articles and services that may have national security implications."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "GAO has shown that cross-matching or data sharing can be a valuable management and oversight practice. The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) already has the right to access Social Security Administration's (SSA) data. However, such access is subject to SSA's approval--the Code of Federal Regulations provides that "OWCP may verify the earnings reported by the employee through a variety of means, including by not limited to computer matches with the Office of Personnel Management and inquiries to SSA." Prior GAO work has demonstrated the importance of, and potential savings from, checking applicants' and beneficiaries' initial and continuing eligibility for federal benefits by verifying the economic information they provide with independent, third-party sources."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "During our audit of the DIF’s 2011 and 2010 financial statements, we identified deficiencies in controls over FDIC’s process for deriving and reporting estimates of losses to the DIF from resolution transactions involving shared loss agreements. While these deficiencies, individually and collectively, did not constitute a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting, they nevertheless increased the risk of additional undetected errors or irregularities in the DIF’s financial statements. Thus, these control deficiencies collectively represented a significant deficiency in FDIC’s internal control over financial reporting for the DIF related to estimating losses from shared loss agreements."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In April 2002, the Department of the Navy launched the DD(X) Destroyer program to develop a stealthy, multi-mission ship that would provide advanced land attack capability to support forces ashore and contribute to military dominance in shallow coastal waters. Numbers and costs for the DD(X) have changed since the inception of the program. According to the program's official cost estimate, the first ship is expected to cost $3.3 billion, with per unit costs decreasing as production progresses. DD(X) is approaching Milestone B and critical design review--two key decision points that will shape the future of both the program and the Navy itself. This testimony focuses on (1) the challenges the DD(X) program is expected to encounter, (2) the program's approach and progress in managing attendant risks, and (3) potential consequences if program progress falls short of expectations."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the National Park Service's (NPS) structural fire safety efforts, focusing on: (1) whether the parks were meeting their structural fire safety responsibilities; (2) if the parks were not meeting their responsibilities, why not; and (3) what efforts were underway to address any identified problems."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the effects of recent Medicare payment reforms, focusing on the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA) payment reforms affecting home health agencies, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), and the health plans in Medicare's managed care program, known as Medicare Choice."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the budget process established by the Budget Enforcement Act, which will expire in fiscal year 2002. Because the goal of achieving zero deficits has been achieved, the focus of the budget process has shifted to to the allocation of surpluses among debt reduction, spending increases, and tax cuts. The budget process should be designed to avoid what has been described as the year-end "train wreck." A year-end "train wreck" results from a failure to reach agreement--or at least a compromise acceptable to all parties--earlier in the year. Although it is possible that early agreement on some broad parameters could facilitate a smoother process, it is not clear that such an agreement will always prevent gridlock--it may just come earlier. Two ideas that have been proposed to avert the year-end disruption caused by an inability to reach agreement on funding the government include joint budget resolutions and biennial budgeting. In discussing alternatives for improving the budget process, there is a broad consensus among observers and budget analysts that the spending constraints established by the act are necessary even with the advent of actual and projected surpluses. …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the improper trafficking of food stamp benefits, focusing on: (1) federal efforts to identify storeowners who engage in trafficking; (2) the amount of penalties assessed and collected against these storeowners; and (3) the extent to which states with statewide electronic benefit transfer (EBT) systems are identifying and disqualifying recipients who engage in trafficking."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Department of State's progress in addressing the challenges it faces in its efforts to achieve a more secure, efficient, and effective network of operations."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Scientific evidence links exposure to particulate matter--a widespread form of air pollution--to serious health problems, including asthma and premature death. Under the Clean Air Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) periodically reviews the appropriate air quality level at which to set national standards to protect the public against the health effects of six pollutants, including particulate matter. EPA proposed revisions to the particulate matter standards in January 2006 and issued a regulatory impact analysis of the revisions' expected costs and benefits. The estimated benefits of air pollution regulations have been controversial in the past, and a 2002 National Academies report to EPA made recommendations aimed at improving the estimates for particulate matter and other air pollution regulations. This testimony is based on GAO's July 2006 report Particulate Matter: EPA Has Started to Address the National Academies' Recommendations on Estimating Health Benefits, but More Progress Is Needed (GAO-06-780). GAO determined whether and how EPA applied the National Academies' recommendations in its estimates of the health benefits expected from the January 2006 proposed revisions to the particulate matter standards."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. rail transit system is a vital component of the nation's transportation infrastructure, carrying millions of people daily. Unlike most transportation modes, safety and security oversight of rail transit is the responsibility of state-designated oversight agencies following Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requirements. In addition, in 2001, Congress passed the Aviation and Transportation Security Act, giving the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) authority for security over all transportation modes, including rail transit. This testimony is based on ongoing work for this subcommittee's committee--the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure. I describe (1) how the State Safety Oversight program is designed; (2) what is known about the impact of the program on rail safety and security; and (3) challenges facing the program. I also provide information about oversight of transit systems that cross state boundaries. To address these issues, we reviewed program documents and interviewed stakeholders including officials from FTA, TSA, the National Transportation Safety Board, and the American Public Transportation Association. We also surveyed state oversight and transit agencies covered by FTA's program, interviewing 24 of the 25 oversight agencies and 37 of 42 transit agencies across the country."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Following the 1991 Persian Gulf War, research and investigations into the causes of servicemembers' unexplained illnesses were hampered by a lack of servicemember health and deployment data, including inadequate occupational and environmental exposure data. In 1997, the Department of Defense (DOD) developed a militarywide health surveillance framework that includes occupational and environmental health surveillance (OEHS)--the regular collection and reporting of occupational and environmental health hazard data by the military services. This testimony is based on GAO's report, entitled Defense Health Care: Improvements Needed in Occupational and Environmental Health Surveillance during Deployment to Address Immediate and Long-term Heath Issues (GAO-05-632). The testimony presents findings about how the deployed military services have implemented DOD's policies for collecting and reporting OEHS data for Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and the efforts under way to use OEHS reports to address both immediate and long-term health issues of servicemembers deployed in support of OIF."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Federal Crop Insurance Corporation's (FCIC) new rule on crop insurance policies. GAO noted that: (1) the new rule would implement the changes to the crop insurance policies mandated by the Agricultural Risk Protection Act of 2000; and (2) FCIC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the impact of crime and corruption on the implementation of the Dayton Peace Agreement, focusing on: (1) how organized crime and public sector corruption have affected implementation of the agreement in Bosnia; (2) what the international community has done to improve Bosnia's law enforcement and judicial system and reduce corruption; and (3) how international assistance resources are being safeguarded and whether such assistance is being used by Bosnia in place of domestic revenues lost due to crime and corruption."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Compliance agreements between the Department of Energy (DOE) and its regulators specify cleanup activities and milestones that DOE has agreed to achieve. The 70 compliance agreements at DOE sites vary, but can be divided into three main types. These are: (1) agreements specifically required by the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 to address cleanup of federal sites on EPA's national priorities list or by the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 to address the management of mixed radioactive and hazardous waste at DOE facilities; (2) court-ordered agreements resulting from lawsuits initiated primarily by states; and (3) other agreements, including state administrative orders enforcing state hazardous waste management laws. DOE reported completing about 80 percent of its milestones by the time originally scheduled in the agreements. The cost of complying with these agreements is not specifically identified in the DOE budget submitted to Congress. Individual DOE sites develop annual compliance cost estimates as part of their budget requests. However, DOE headquarters officials adjust those individual site estimates to reflect national priorities and to reconcile various competing demands. Compliance agreements are site-specific and are not …