Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Accurate cost information is crucial for proper program management. Such information is especially important for the Bureau of Land Management's (BLM) Mining Law Administration Program (MLAP) because this program partially funded through mining fees that Congress has earmarked only for mining law administration operations. Some labor costs and several contracts and services were improperly charged to MLAP, causing other subactivities to benefit from funds intended for MLAP operations. Therefore, fewer funds have been available for actual MLAP operations. Although BLM has tried to make correcting adjustments for some of these improper charges, it has not established specific guidance or procedures to prevent improper charging of MLAP funds from recurring. Until additional procedures for MLAP are developed and effectively implemented, Congress and program managers can only place limited reliance on the accuracy of MLAP cost information."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Spending on law enforcement issues continues to grow at the federal, state, and local levels. Federal spending was about $25 billion in fiscal year 1999, up from $10 billion just a decade ago. Most of the increase in spending has been to accommodate a shift in focus at the federal level from helping local governments control crime to emphasizing more distinct federal responsibilities, such as controlling illegal immigration. Notwithstanding the recent downturn in overall crime levels, the Congress and the public remain concerned and look to the federal government for leadership on how to bring crime under control. Specific areas of attention include preventing, detecting, and responding to domestic and transnational crime; controlling illegal drug use; deterring illegal immigration; providing an efficient federal judiciary; and controlling prison costs. GAO's strategic plan identifies four multiyear performance goals to support congressional and federal decisionmaking on controlling crime, illegal drug use, and illegal immigration and in administering federal court and prison systems. The following pages discuss the significance of the performance goals, the key efforts that will be undertaken, and the potential outcomes. Performance Goals: (1) Identify ways to …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the human capital issues facing the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Department of State. The issues confronting the two agencies do not fundamentally differ from those facing other federal agencies. In the wake of extensive downsizing during the last decade, agency workforces are experiencing significant imbalances in terms of shape, skills, and retirement eligibility, with the likelihood of a huge ware of retirements during the next few years and a resulting decline in the ability to accomplish agency missions. Although both DOD and State have begun to address their human capital issues, GAO identified several areas in which additional efforts are needed. DOD and State must step up their efforts to identify current and future workforce needs, assess where they are relative to those needs, and develop strategies for addressing any related gaps. Such efforts should address workforce shape, skills, knowledge, and succession planning."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report reviews the department of Defense's (DOD) implementation of computer incident response capabilities and identifies challenges to improving these. GAO found that during the last several years, DOD has taken several steps to build incident response capabilities and enhance computer defensive capabilities across the Department, including the creation of computer emergency response teams and incident response capabilities within each of the military services as well as the Defense Information Systems Agency and the Defense Logistics Agency. DOD also created the Joint Task Force-Computer Network Defense (JTF-CND) to coordinate and direct the full range of activities within the Department associated with incident response. GAO identified the following six areas in which DOD faces challenges in improving its incident response capabilities: (1) coordinating resource planning and prioritization activities; (2) integrating critical data from intrusion detection systems, sensors, and other devices to better monitor cyber events and attacks; (3) establishing departmentwide process to periodically review systems and networks for security weaknesses; (4) increasing individual unit compliance with departmentwide vulnerability alerts; (5) improving DOD's system for coordinating component-level incident response actions; and (6) developing departmentwide performance measures to assess …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The computer systems that support the Department of Energy's (DOE) civilian research and development programs house enormous amounts of data. Although unclassified, some of the information in these systems is nevertheless sensitive and must be protected from inappropriate access or disclosure. For this reason, DOE property management regulations require the agency to clear the hard drives of all computers before they are transferred into the excess category for reuse or disposal. GAO found that DOE lacks standardized instructions, verification procedures, and training for agency and contract employees on how to properly clear excessed computers. DOE also does not ensure that procedures used to remove all software, information, and data from systems are effective. As a result, some of the excessed computers GAO inspected at DOE headquarters had information still stored on the hard drives."