A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Policymakers have raised questions about geoengineering--large-scale deliberate interventions in the earth's climate system to diminish climate change or its impacts--and its role in a broader strategy of mitigating and adapting to climate change. Most geoengineering proposals fall into two categories: carbon dioxide removal (CDR), which would remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere, and solar radiation management (SRM), which would offset temperature increases by reflecting sunlight back into space. GAO was asked to examine (1) the state of geoengineering science, (2) federal involvement in geoengineering, and (3) the views of experts and federal officials about the extent to which federal laws and international agreements apply to geoengineering, and any governance challenges. GAO examined relevant scientific and policy studies, relevant domestic laws and international agreements, analyzed agency data describing relevant research for fiscal years 2009 and 2010, and interviewed federal officials and selected recognized experts in the field."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), protecting and ensuring the resiliency (the ability to resist, absorb, recover from, or successfully adapt to adversity or changing conditions) of critical infrastructure and key resources (CIKR) is essential to the nation's security. By law, DHS is to lead and coordinate efforts to protect several thousand CIKR assets deemed vital to the nation's security, public health, and economy. In 2006, DHS created the National Infrastructure Protection Plan (NIPP) to outline the approach for integrating CIKR and increased its emphasis on resiliency in its 2009 update. GAO was asked to assess the extent to which DHS (1) has incorporated resiliency into the programs it uses to work with asset owners and operators and (2) is positioned to disseminate information it gathers on resiliency practices to asset owners and operators. GAO reviewed DHS documents, such as the NIPP, and interviewed DHS officials and 15 owners and operators of assets selected on the basis of geographic diversity. The results of these interviews are not generalizable but provide insights."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony is on the financial condition of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (Fund). FHA has helped millions of families purchase homes through its single-family mortgage insurance programs and in recent years, has experienced a dramatic increase in its market role. FHA insures almost all of its single-family mortgages under the Fund, which is reviewed from both an actuarial and budgetary perspective each year. On the basis of an independent actuarial review, FHA reported in November 2009 that the Fund was not meeting the statutory 2 percent capital reserve requirement as of the end of fiscal year 2009, as measured by the Fund's estimated capital ratio--that is, the Fund's economic value divided by the insurance-in-force. Additionally, although the Fund historically has produced budgetary receipts for the federal government, a weakening in the performance of FHA-insured loans has heightened the possibility that FHA will require additional funds to help cover its costs on insurance issued to date. This statement today is based on a report released yesterday, titled Mortgage Financing: Opportunities to Enhance Management and Oversight of FHA's Financial Condition. This statement discusses (1) how …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "VA clinicians use expendable medical supplies--disposable items that are generally used one time--and reusable medical equipment (RME), which is designed to be reused for multiple patients. VA has policies that VA medical centers (VAMC) must follow when purchasing such supplies and equipment and tracking--that is, accounting for--these items at VAMCs. GAO was asked to evaluate VA's purchasing and tracking of expendable medical supplies and RME and their potential impact on veterans' safety. This testimony is based on GAO's ongoing work and provides preliminary observations on (1) the extent of compliance with VA's requirements for purchasing and tracking of expendable medical supplies and RME and (2) steps VA plans to take to improve its oversight of VAMCs' purchasing and tracking of expendable medical supplies and RME. GAO reviewed VA policies and selected three requirements that GAO determined to be relevant to patient safety. At each of the five VAMCs GAO visited, GAO reviewed documents used to identify issues related to the three requirements and interviewed officials to gather further information on these issues. The VAMCs GAO visited represent different surgical complexity groups, sizes of veteran populations served, and geographic …