Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "A cookie is a short string of text, not a program, that is sent from a web server to a web browser when the browser accesses a web page. GAO reviewed 65 federal web sites to determine: (1) which of the selected federal sites were using cookies, (2) the type of cookies used, and (3) whether the privacy policy disclosed that the site may or does use cookies."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Haitian Refugee Immigration Fairness Act of 1998 authorizes Haitian nationals and their dependents to apply to change their status to legal permanent residence. This report, the fourth done in response to the act, contains a breakdown on the numbers of Haitians who applied and the number who were approved as asylum applicants, parolees, children without parents, orphaned children, abandoned children, or as the eligible dependents of these applicants (i.e., spouses, children, and unmarried sons or daughters). The Immigration and Naturalization Service had received a total of 35,257 applications under the act and had approved 263 of these applications. The Executive Office for Immigration Review had 95 applications filed and had approved 65 of them."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Data sharing among federal agencies that run federal benefit and loan programs is important for determining the eligibility of applicants and beneficiaries. A GAO symposium on data sharing highlighted various issues facing federal agencies in their efforts to prevent abuse of federal programs. Symposium speakers focused on the number of program dollars saved by interagency data exchanges. Agencies using computer matching have detected undisclosed income and welfare recipients who receive benefits from more than one state. Improved technologies offer agencies the opportunity to expand their data sharing efforts. Such technologies include computer systems that can communicate directly with other systems and computer networks that can obtain information directly from financial institutions. Symposium speakers agreed that applicants' privacy should be protected when personal information is shared among agencies, but they disagreed about the extent to which data sharing threatens it. Privacy laws and security-related technology provide individuals with some protection against the possible misuse of personal information, but symposium participants differed on whether these protections are adequate."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Through the Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA), Congress has sought to improve federal management and instill a greater focus on results. Congress and the executive branch recognize, however, that performance improvements do not take place merely because a set of management requirements has been put in place. In 1997 and 2000, GAO surveyed agencies' progress towards establishing a focus on results. GAO found that progress has been uneven in building the organizational cultures to create and sustain a focus on results governmentwide. A significantly higher percentage of managers in 2000 than in 1997 reported that their agencies had provided, arranged, or paid for training that would help them accomplish two results-oriented management-related tasks: setting performance goals and implementing the requirements of GPRA. Overall, the survey results show that, in some keys areas, agencies may be losing ground in their efforts towards building organizational cultures that support a focus on results. In GAO's view, the Senate confirmation process must ensure that political nominees have the appropriate management and leadership skills needed to continue to transform federal agencies into high-performing organizations."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Inspector General (IG) provided training to its staff during fiscal years 1998 and 1999. GAO found that the training is part of a quality control system providing reasonable assurance that staff conform with professional standards. The reported cost of this training was about $630,000 in fiscal year 1998 and about $970,000 in fiscal year 1999. The courses covered topics such as leadership, quality, effectiveness, and performance. The IG plans to include additional management-related and technical training courses for the staff over the next two years and to conduct a skills inventory of the staff to identify any gaps that training can address."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed several amendments to its 1993 Corrective Action Management Unit (CAMU) rule. The CAMU rule currently allows agencies to set aside part of their hazardous waste site to deposit wastes without triggering the requirements of the Recovery Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). EPA's action is in response to a lawsuit alleging that the CAMU rule would allow for the management of wastes in violation of RCRA's land disposal restrictions. The 1993 rule and recently proposed rules governing the treatment, storage, and disposal of hazardous waste onsite in CAMUs differ primarily in the requirements for waste treatment and facility design. According to EPA, the proposed rules will increase the time and the costs of site cleanups using CAMUs because it is less flexible than the 1993 rule and adds technical and process requirements. Several state representatives expressed concern that the proposed requirements could be applied to cleanups done under their programs, regardless of whether they were using CAMUs, thereby deterring the progress states have been making in cleaning up sites."