A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although Social Security's benefit and contribution provisions are neutral with respect to race, ethnicity, and gender, concerns about the experiences of minority groups under Social Security focus on whether they benefit less than whites, particularly because of the shorter life expectancy of blacks. These concerns are related to the concept of equity, or how benefits compare with taxes. To gain a thorough understanding of the experiences of minority populations under Social Security, GAO was asked to examine (1) what socioeconomic and demographic factors influence Social Security taxes paid and benefits received and (2) how different equity measures compare across racial groups. Because of the current system's projected actuarial deficit, to conduct this study, GAO made its calculations using three policy scenarios, each of which achieves 75-year solvency: a payroll tax increase and a progressive and proportional benefit cut. Further, GAO used three measures of equity: lifetime benefit-to-tax ratios, net lifetime benefits, and real internal rates of return. GAO also examined four birth cohorts: 1931-40, 1941-45, 1946-55, and 1956-64."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Women and children refugees, who comprise 80 percent of the estimated 12 million refugees worldwide, are among the world's most vulnerable populations. They are subject to gender-based violence, including physical harm, rape, and unequal access to humanitarian assistance. GAO was asked to (1) assess efforts by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect refugees, especially with regard to women and girls; (2) determine what steps U.N. and international organizations have taken to prevent sexual exploitation of refugee women by humanitarian workers; and (3) describe U.S. government efforts to support adequate protection for vulnerable populations."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In February 2003, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) received the largest budget increase in the history of the agency. The increased funding was designed to better position SEC to address serious issues identified in the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and to better enable SEC to address numerous operational and human capital management challenges discussed in the GAO report entitled SEC Operations: Increased Workload Creates Challenges (GAO-02-302). To help ensure that SEC spends its budgetary resources in an efficient and effective manner, GAO was asked to review the SEC's efforts to address the issues raised in the 2002 report and to report on how SEC intends to utilize its new budgetary resources. GAO's final report on these matters is expected to be completed this Fall. This testimony provides requested information on the status of SEC's current spending plan and preliminary observations on SEC's strategic and human capital planning efforts."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Under the Transportation Equity Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21), Congress authorized federal funding for New Starts fixed guideway transit projects--including rail and bus rapid transit projects that met certain criteria. In response to an annual mandate under TEA-21, GAO assessed the New Starts evaluation and ratings process for the fiscal year 2004 cycle, including (1) changes to the process and any related issues and (2) any challenges related to New Starts initiatives contained in the administration's fiscal year 2004 budget proposal."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because of concerns that not enough students who start college are completing a bachelor's degree, we examined (1) the extent to which students who enroll in a 4-year college complete a bachelor's degree and identify the factors that affect completion; (2) what states and 4-year colleges and universities are doing to foster bachelor's degree completion; and (3) what the Department of Education (Education) is doing to foster degree completion."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Drug compounding--the process of mixing, combining, or altering ingredients--is an important part of the practice of pharmacy because there is a need for medications tailored to individual patient needs. Several recent compounding cases that resulted in serious illness and deaths have raised concern about oversight to ensure the safety and quality of compounded drugs. These concerns have raised questions about what states--which regulate the practice of pharmacy--and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are doing to oversee drug compounding. GAO was asked to examine (1) the actions taken or proposed by states and national pharmacy organizations that may affect state oversight of drug compounding, and (2) federal authority and enforcement power regarding compounded drugs. This testimony is based on discussions with the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy (NABP) and a GAO review of four states: Missouri, North Carolina, Vermont, and Wyoming. GAO also interviewed and reviewed documents from pharmacist organizations, FDA, and others involved in the practice of pharmacy or drug compounding."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Over the past decade, a series of devastating and deadly wildland fires has burned millions of acres of federal forests, grasslands, and deserts each year, requiring federal land management agencies to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to fight them. GAO was asked to assess opportunities to improve the way agencies manage fires through the use of geospatial information technologies, specifically, to (1) identify key geospatial information technologies for addressing different aspects of managing wildland fires, (2) summarize key challenges to the effective use of geospatial technologies in managing wildland fires, and (3) identify national opportunities to improve the effective use of geospatial technologies."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The federal government has a long-term commitment to helping states construct, improve, and repair roads and bridges to meet the nation's mobility needs. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) expects to provide states about $20 billion for highway construction projects in fiscal year 2003. State departments of transportation are primarily responsible for initiating and completing projects. Many federal and state agencies with environmental responsibilities (called resource agencies) help ensure that environmental issues are considered. The environmental review of a federally funded highway project can take from several days to several years. GAO is reporting on the (1) activities involved in the environmental reviews of federally funded highway projects and (2) stakeholders' views on the aspects of environmental review, if any, that unduly add time to gaining environmental approval. GAO obtained stakeholder views from 16 transportation improvement and 12 environmental officials from a variety of federal, state, and private organizations with responsibilities for or interests in constructing federally funded highways. The Department of Transportation had no comments on a draft of this report. Other agencies provided either technical comments or did not respond to our request for comments."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Coordination of federal programs to combat terrorism overseas became even more critical as a result of the terrorist attacks against the United States on September 11, 2001. In response to these attacks, the federal government has taken unprecedented political, diplomatic, legal, law enforcement, financial, military, and intelligence actions to combat terrorism abroad. Among these actions is the publication of a series of new national strategies to combat terrorism. Congress asked that we develop baseline information identifying and describing federal programs and activities to combat terrorism overseas. This report describes the interagency framework and policies for planning and coordinating federal efforts to counter international terrorism. It identifies the relationships between and among the new national strategies to combat terrorism. It also describes the federal programs and activities governmentwide to detect and prevent terrorism, disrupt and destroy terrorist organizations, and respond to terrorist incidents overseas. Finally, it provides detailed matrices of selected departments' programs and activities to combat terrorism overseas. We briefed Congress previously on the preliminary results of our work and issued an interim report on Combating Terrorism: Department of State Programs to Combat Terrorism Abroad. This …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Business-owned life insurance is held by employers on the lives of their employees, and the employer is the beneficiary of these policies. Unless prohibited by state law, businesses can retain ownership of these policies regardless of whether the employment relationship has ended. Generally, business-owned life insurance is permanent, lasting for the life of the employee and accumulating cash value as it provides coverage. Attractive features of business-owned life insurance, which are common to all permanent life insurance, generally include both tax-free accumulation of earnings on the policies' cash value and tax-free receipt of the death benefit. To address concerns that businesses were abusing their ability to deduct interest expenses on loans taken against the value of their policies, Congress passed legislation to limit this practice, and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and Department of Justice pursued litigation against some businesses. But concerns have remained regarding employers' ability to benefit from insuring their employees' lives. This testimony provides some preliminary information from ongoing GAO work on (1) the uses and prevalence of business-owned life insurance and (2) federal and state regulatory requirements for and oversight of business-owned life insurance."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings and investment plan for federal employees, governed by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board (the TSP Board). Recent events relating to the TSP Board's contract to upgrade TSP's record keeping system have raised questions about the management of the TSP. In light of the TSP Board's actions relating to the record keeping system and the recent submission of the TSP Board's legislative proposal that would enhance its independence, Congressional requesters asked us to examine federal oversight of the TSP Board. Specifically, our objectives were to (1) describe the Department of Labor's (DOL) oversight authority, under the Federal Employees' Retirement System Act of 1986 (FERSA) and (2) determine the actions DOL has taken in exercising its authority over TSP."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Electronic government (e-government) refers to the use of information technology (IT), including Web-based Internet applications, to enhance access to and delivery of government information and services, as well as to improve the internal efficiency and effectiveness of the federal government. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is managing five e-government initiatives whose goal is to transform the way OPM oversees the government's human capital functions. These 5 initiatives are among 25 identified by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as foremost in the drive toward egovernment transformation. The 25 initiatives have ambitious goals, including eliminating redundant, nonintegrated business operations and systems and improving service to citizens by an order of magnitude. Achieving these results, according to OMB, could produce billions of dollars in savings from improved operational efficiency. In today's testimony, among other things, GAO identifies the challenges facing OPM as it moves forward in implementing the five human capital initiatives."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is developing a ballistic missile defense system designed to counter a wide spectrum of ballistic missile threats. A future element of this system is the Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS). STSS will eventually be composed of a constellation of satellites that will work together to detect and track missiles throughout all phases of their flight. GAO was asked to analyze MDA's approach to demonstrate capabilities for STSS."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1992, the United States and other parties, including both developed and developing nations, agreed to try to limit dangerous human interference with the climate by participating in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The parties agreed, among other things, to report on their emissions of carbon dioxide and five other gases whose buildup in the atmosphere is believed to affect the climate. The parties developed standards for these reports and processes for periodically evaluating the reports. Expert teams selected by the parties review the developed nations' reports; staff of the Framework Convention's administrative arm (the Secretariat) assess developing nations' reports. GAO agreed to describe the results of the most recent reviews and assessments of reports from selected economically developed and developing nations, as well as the parties' plans to improve the reports. For the developed nations, GAO agreed to study four geographically dispersed nations with high levels of emissions--Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For the developing nations, GAO studied China, India, and Mexico, which also have high emissions levels and are geographically dispersed. These nations are not representative of …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "USAID oversees humanitarian and economic assistance--an integral part of the U.S. global security strategy--to more than 160 countries. GAO recommended in 1993 that USAID develop a comprehensive workforce plan; however, human capital management continues to be a high-risk area for the agency. GAO was asked to testify on how changes in USAID's workforce over the past 10 years have affected its ability to deliver foreign aid, the agency's progress in implementing a strategic workforce planning system, and whether its reported operating expenses reflect the full costs of delivering foreign aid."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The potential losses that the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), through its single-employer insurance program, might face from the termination of underfunded plans have been a longstanding concern of the Congress and GAO. In 1990, as part of our effort to call attention to high-risk areas in the federal government, we noted that weaknesses in the single-employer insurance program's financial condition threatened PBGC's longterm viability. We stated that minimum funding rules still did not ensure that plan sponsors would contribute enough for terminating plans to have sufficient assets to cover all promised benefits. In 1992, we also reported that PBGC had weaknesses in its internal controls and financial systems that placed the entire agency, and not just the single employer program, at risk. Three years later, we reported that legislation enacted in 1994 had strengthened PBGC's program weaknesses and that we believed improvements had been significant enough for us to remove the agency's high-risk designation. However, given the potential for significant changes in the program's position, we continued to monitor the situation. Early this year, PBGC's single-employer pension insurance program reported a $3.6 billion accumulated deficit …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses our past reviews of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) disability programs as Congress considers the fundamental issue of eligibility for benefits and the related issue of concurrent receipt of VA disability compensation and Department of Defense (DOD) retirement pay. Our work has addressed these issues in addition to identifying significant program design and management challenges hindering VA's ability to provide meaningful and timely support to disabled veterans and their families. It is especially fitting, with the continuing deployment of our military forces to armed conflict, that we reaffirm our commitment to those who serve our nation in its times of need. Therefore, effective and efficient management of VA's disability programs is of paramount importance. In January 2003, we designated VA's disability compensation programs, as well as other federal disability programs including Social Security Disability Insurance and Supplemental Security Income, as high-risk areas. We did this to draw attention to the need for broad-based transformation of these programs, which is critical to improving the government's performance and ensuring accountability within expected resource limits. In March 2003, we cautioned that the proposed modification of concurrent receipt …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On October 21, 2001, the U.S. Postal Service closed its Brentwood mail processing facility after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed that an employee there had contracted inhalation anthrax, an often-fatal form of the disease. On October 21 and 22, two other Brentwood employees died of inhalation anthrax. The contamination was linked to a letter that passed through the facility on or about October 12, before being opened in the office of Senator Daschle in the Hart Senate Office Building on October 15. The Hart Building was closed the next day. The Brentwood facility has since been decontaminated and will soon reopen. This testimony, which is based on ongoing work, provides GAO's preliminary observations on the decisions made in closing the facility and problems experienced in communicating with employees, as well as lessons learned from the experience."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses the Air Force's report on the planned lease of 100 Boeing 767 aircraft modified for aerial refueling. These aircraft would be known by a new designation, KC-767A. Section 8159 of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act for fiscal year 2002 authorizes the Air Force to lease up to 100 KC-767A aircraft. We received the report required by section 8159 when it was sent to the Congress on July 10. We subsequently received a briefing from the Air Force and some of the data needed to review the draft lease and lease versus purchase analysis. However, we were permitted to read the lease for the first time on July 18 but were not allowed to make a copy and so have not had time to fully review and analyze the terms of the draft lease. As a result, this testimony today will be based on very preliminary work. It will (1) describe the condition of the current aerial refueling fleet, (2) summarize the proposed lease as presented in the Air Force's recent report, (3) present our preliminary observations on the Air Force lease report, and (4) …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Many federal agencies in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area have their own police forces to ensure the security and safety of the persons and property within and surrounding federal buildings. In the executive branch, for example, the Secret Service has over 1,000 uniformed officers protecting the White House, the Treasury Building, and other facilities used by the Executive Office of the President. The Interior Department's Park Police consists of more than 400 officers protecting parks and monuments in the area. The Pentagon Force Protection Agency has recently increased its force to over 400 officers. Even the Health and Human Services Department maintains a small police force on the campus of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland. In addition, there are federal uniformed police forces in both the Legislative and Judicial Branches of the federal government. We have continued to examine the transformation of 22 agencies with an estimated 160,000 civilian employees into the Department of Homeland Security."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Dietary supplements containing ephedra have been associated with serious health-related adverse events, including heart attacks, strokes, seizures, and deaths. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates dietary supplements under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA). Reports of adverse events have been received by FDA and others, including Metabolife International, the manufacturer of a dietary supplement containing ephedra, Metabolife 356. Because of concerns surrounding the safety of dietary supplements containing ephedra, GAO was asked to discuss and update some of the findings from its prior work on ephedra, including its examination of Metabolife International's records of health-related calls from consumers of Metabolife 356. Specifically, GAO examined (1) FDA's analysis of the adverse event reports it received for dietary supplements containing ephedra, (2) how the adverse events reported in the health-related call records collected by Metabolife International illustrate the health risks of dietary supplements containing ephedra, and (3) FDA's actions in the oversight of dietary supplements containing ephedra."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We evaluated fiscal year 2002 activity affecting distributions to the Unemployment Trust Fund (UTF)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "We evaluated fiscal year 2002 activity affecting distributors to the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (AATF)."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Value engineering (VE) is a recognized technique for reducing costs while maintaining or improving productivity and quality. The Department of Defense's (DOD) VE program consists of both government- and contractor-developed cost-reduction projects designed to reduce a system's life-cycle costs. In response to Congress' request, we agreed to provide information on (1) the role the VE program has played in supporting cost reduction in DOD weapons system programs and (2) the alternative measures program managers take to reduce costs and/or incentivize contractors."