Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD incorporated results-oriented management practices into the planning and development of the four ongoing DSO improvement efforts. Additionally, it appears that DOD is incorporating those practices into its planning for the fifth effort—strategic network optimization—which is still under development. On the basis of our assessment of DOD’s key planning documents and other information for the process improvement, surface optimization, air optimization, and supply alignment efforts, we found that DOD addressed the six characteristics found in the framework. For example, DOD identified the main purpose of the improvement efforts, their scope, and the resources needed to execute individual efforts. Preliminary observations of DOD's planning for strategic network optimization indicate that agency officials are also incorporating results-oriented management practices for this effort. For example, DOD has developed a mission statement and established mechanisms to coordinate with stakeholders. However, because planning is still underway for strategic network optimization, we were unable to fully assess the extent to which DOD has used result-oriented management practices to develop and implement this improvement effort. For example, DOD has not yet decided how to implement the effort nor developed specific performance measures to assess progress."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The recent financial crisis resulted in a wide-ranging federal response that included providing extraordinary assistance to several major corporations. As a result of actions under the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and others, the government was a shareholder in the American International Group Inc. (AIG); Bank of America; Citigroup, Inc. (Citigroup); Chrysler Group LLC (Chrysler); General Motors Company (GM); Ally Financial/GMAC, Inc. (GMAC); and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (Enterprises). The government ownership interest in these companies resulted from financial assistance that was aimed at stabilizing the financial markets, housing finance, or specific market segments. This report (1) describes the government's ownership interest and evaluates the extent of government involvement in these companies, (2) discusses the government's management and monitoring of its investments and exit strategies, and (3) identifies lessons learned from the federal actions. This work was done in part with the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) and involved reviewing relevant documentation related to these companies and the federal assistance provided. GAO interviewed officials at Treasury, Federal Reserve, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), and the banking regulators, as well as …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Iran's economy and government are reliant on revenues from its oil and gas industry. According to the 2011 Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, oil accounts for approximately 80 percent of Iran's exports, and, according to the International Monetary Fund, Iran's 2009 oil revenues were about 66 percent of the Government of Iran's revenues. According to the Department of Energy (DOE), Iran ranks among the top three holders of proven oil and natural gas reserves in the world, and is one of the largest exporters of crude oil in the world. While Iran continues to produce significant amounts of crude oil, its peak production occurred in 1978 and has not been matched since then because of a high rate of natural decline in mature oil fields, limited investment, and sanctions. IHS Global Insight found that the oil sector will require approximately $25 billion in annual investments to maintain existing production and considerably more to develop and enhance recovery techniques that would lift Iran's daily output to 5.8 million barrels by 2015. While Department of State (State) officials state that sanctions have an impact on Iran, the Iranian government continues …