Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal, state, and local governments share responsibility in preparing for catastrophic terrorist attacks. Because the national security threat is diffuse and the challenge is intergovernmental, national policymakers need a firm understanding of the interests, capacity, and challenges when formulating antiterrorism strategies. Key aspects of this strategy should include a definition and clarification of the appropriate roles and responsibilities of federal, state, and local entities. GAO has found fragmentation and overlap among federal assistance programs. More than 40 federal entities have roles in combating terrorism, and past federal efforts have resulted in a lack of accountability, a lack of cohesive effort, and program duplication. This situation has led to confusion, making it difficult to identify available federal preparedness resources and effectively partner with the federal government. Goals and performance measures should be established to guide the nation's preparedness efforts. For the nation's preparedness programs, however, outcomes have yet to be defined in terms of domestic preparedness. Given the recent and proposed increases in preparedness funding, real and meaningful improvements in preparedness and establishing clear goals and performance measures are critical to ensuring a successful and a fiscally responsible effort. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has experienced significant increases in the prices it pays for consumable spare parts, which are "consumed" when used or discarded when worn out because they cannot be cost effectively repaired. The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) manages four million consumable spare parts or 93 percent of all consumable spare parts used by the military services. DOD is required to perform price trend analyses on some categories of commercial spare parts, address unreasonable price escalation, and report the results to Congress for three consecutive years beginning in April 2000. DLA has completed two price trend analyses for DOD. In addition to the price trend analyses, DLA also did a procurement management review in fiscal year 2000 to assess the overall risk of spare parts overpricing. The agency also has three information technology initiatives underway to determine price reasonableness for DLA customers and buyers. These efforts are in various stages of completion, and it is too early to assess their results."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) long-standing financial management and business systems modernization problems result in a lack of information needed to make sound decisions, hinder the efficiency of operations, and leave the department vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse. Such problems led us in 1995 to put financial management and business systems modernization at DOD on our list of high risk areas in the federal government, a designation that continues today. GAO was asked to (1) provide information on the number and cost of DOD's current business systems and (2) determine if DOD is effectively managing and overseeing selected accounting system investments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Army's competitive sourcing studies, focusing on the: (1) Army's plans for competitive sourcing studies at five chemical munitions facilities and the extent to which emergency response or chemical defense industrial positions are included in the competitive sourcing studies; and (2) status of the Army's assessment and GAO's assessment of how competitive sourcing would impact emergency response capabilities and environmental permits associated with the destruction of the chemical agents and munitions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) civilian employees play key roles in such areas as defense policy, intelligence, finance, acquisitions, and weapon systems maintenance. Although downsized 38 percent between fiscal years 1989 and 2002, this workforce has taken on greater roles as a result of DOD's restructuring and transformation. Responding to congressional concerns about the quality and quantity of, and the strategic planning for the civilian workforce, GAO determined the following for DOD, the military services, and selected defense agencies: (1) the extent of top-level leadership involvement in civilian strategic planning; (2) whether elements in civilian strategic plans are aligned to the overall mission, focused on results, and based on current and future civilian workforce data; and (3) whether civilian and military personnel strategic plans or sourcing initiatives were integrated."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Because of internal control weaknesses, the Department of Education's student financial assistance programs are at high risk for fraud or erroneous payments. GAO discovered fraud in the grant and loan areas and pervasive control breakdowns and improper payments in other areas. Controls over grant and loan disbursements lacked a key edit check or follow-up process that would identify schools improperly disbursing Pell Grants. Significant internal control weaknesses over Education's third party drafts also increased the department's vulnerability. GAO found that individual Education employees could control the entire payment process for third party drafts. Education employees also circumvented a key computerized control designed to prevent duplicate payments. Education eliminated third party drafts in May 2001. Inconsistent and inadequate authorization and review processes for purchase cards, combined with a lack of monitoring, meant that improper purchases were unlikely to be detected. Inadequate control over these expenditures, combined with the inherent risk of fraud and abuse associated with purchase cards, led to fraudulent, improper, and questionable purchases totaling $686,000. Poor internal controls over computers acquired with purchase cards and third party drafts led to 241 missing personal computers and …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps) is in charge of addressing cleanup at the more than 9,000 U.S. properties that were formerly owned or controlled by the Department of Defense (DOD) and have been identified as potentially eligible for environmental cleanup. The Corps has determined that more than 4,000 of these properties have no hazards that require further Corps study or cleanup action. However, in recent years, hazards have surfaced at some of these properties, leading state and federal regulators to question whether the Corps has properly assessed and cleaned up these properties. In this context, Congress asked us to (1) analyze federal coordination requirements that apply to the cleanup of these properties, (2) assess recent DOD and Corps efforts to improve coordination, and (3) identify any issues regulators may have about coordination with the Corps."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1995, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the state of Idaho signed an agreement to clean up a mining area known as Bunker Hill. The agreement estimated that the total cost of the cleanup would be $126 million, with the state's share capped at $12.6 million. This correspondence focuses on (1) EPA's actual expenditures for cleanup activities and how these expenditures differ from the estimate set forth in the agreement and (2) the reasons for any major differences between actual and estimated cleanup expenditures. As of September 30, 2000, EPA had spent about $212 million on various cleanup and management support activities within the Bunker Hill Superfund site. About $101 million of the expenditures was for cleanup-related activities not covered by the EPA/state agreement and therefore not included in the 1995 cost estimate. These activities included the study and design of cleanup activities, emergency removals of contaminated materials, enforcement of responsible party cleanup activities, and indirect management support. The remaining $111 million was used for cleanup work covered by this agreement. EPA and the state of Idaho expect that the cleanup work covered by the agreement will …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Created in 1933 to insure bank deposits and promote sound banking practices, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plays an important role in maintaining public confidence in the nation's financial system. In 1989, legislation to reform the federal deposit insurance system created three funds to be administered by FDIC: the Bank Insurance Fund and the Savings Association Insurance Fund, which protect bank and savings deposits, and the FSLIC Resolution Fund, created to close out the business of the former Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corporation. GAO is responsible for obtaining reasonable assurance about whether FDIC's financial statements for the funds are presented fairly, whether it maintains effective internal controls, and whether FDIC has complied with selected laws and regulations."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) has historically been unable to accurately account for and record its disbursements. In March 2002, the DOD Comptroller cited metrics that showed dramatic reductions in payment recording errors (57 percent between October 2000 and October 2001), backlogs of commercial payments (41 percent between April and October 2001), and travel card payment delinquencies (34 percent for those individually billed and 86 percent for those centrally billed between January and December 2001). As a result, the Congress asked us to determine whether the cited reductions were (1) calculated using consistent definitions and methodologies, (2) properly supported, and (3) effective indicators of short-term financial management progress."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the results of its investigation of the Health Care Financing Administration's (HCFA) negotiated settlements of large overpayments to three Medicare providers between 1991 and July 1999."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The fiscal year 2003 Defense Authorization Act requires the Department of Defense (DOD) to develop by May 1, 2003, a financial management enterprise architecture, including a transition plan, that meets certain requirements. The act also requires that GAO submit to congressional defense committees an assessment of the architecture and transition plan within 60 days of their approval. As part of our ongoing work to satisfy this legislative requirement and at the request of Senate Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, Committee on Armed Services, staff, we briefed the Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support, Senate Committee on Armed forces on March 4, 2003, on our preliminary assessment of the DOD draft architecture products dated February 7, 2003. As further requested by the staff, this letter transmits the observations we made during the briefing."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense's (DOD) readiness assessment system was designed to assess the ability of units and joint forces to fight and meet the demands of the national security strategy. In 1998, GAO concluded that the readiness reports provided to Congress were vague and ineffective as oversight tools. Since that time, Congress added reporting requirements to enhance its oversight of military readiness. Therefore, the Chairman asked GAO to examine (1) the progress DOD made in resolving issues raised in the 1998 GAO report on both the unit-level readiness reporting system and the lack of specificity in DOD's Quarterly Readiness Reports to the Congress, (2) the extent to which DOD has complied with legislative reporting requirements enacted since 1997, and (3) DOD's plans to improve readiness reporting."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In 1945, the United States helped establish the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as a means to promote international peace. During the 1970s, UNESCO was criticized for becoming too politicized. In 1984, the United States left the organization, contending that it was poorly managed and had failed to restrain budget growth. At that time, the United States urged UNESCO to reform its management practices and adopt zero real growth budgets. In 2002, the United States announced that UNESCO had made progress in adopting reforms and that the United States would rejoin UNESCO to help advance the organization's mission. The United States plans to rejoin UNESCO on October 1, 2003. To facilitate oversight of U.S. reentry into UNESCO, the House committee on International Relations asked us to review the organization's reform efforts and budget trends, as well as issues associated with the U.S. reentry."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) fiscal year (FY) 2001 budget request, focusing on: (1) the 2000 tax filing season; (2) IRS' FY 2001 budget request and supporting documentation; and (3) GAO's reviews of various IRS activities, including those related to information systems and IRS' reorganization."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) efforts to track taxpayer information about IRS notices, focusing on: (1) whether IRS tracks information about notices from individual taxpayers who call IRS; and (2) if not, whether such a tracking system could be useful and feasible."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To address the strain on the aviation system, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has proposed transitioning to the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen). To finance this system and to make its costs to users more equitable, the administration has proposed fundamental changes in the way that FAA is financed. As part of the reauthorization, the administration proposes major changes in the way that grants through the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) are funded and allocated to the 3,400 airports in the national airport system. In response, GAO was asked for an update on current funding levels for airport development and the sufficiency of those levels to meet planned development costs. This testimony comprises capital development estimates made by FAA and Airports Council International (ACI), the chief industry association; analyzes how much airports have received for capital development and whether this is sufficient to meet future planned development; and summarizes the effects of proposed changes in funding for airport development. This testimony is based on ongoing GAO work. Airport funding and planned development data are drawn from the best available sources and have been assessed for their reliability. This …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Among its efforts to strengthen aviation security, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is developing a new passenger prescreening system--known as Secure Flight. As required by Congress, TSA is planning to assume, through Secure Flight, the prescreening function currently performed by the air carriers. This report assesses the (1) status of Secure Flight's development and implementation, (2) factors that could influence the effectiveness of Secure Flight, (3) processes used to oversee and manage the Secure Flight program, and (4) efforts taken to minimize the impacts on passengers and protect passenger rights. In conducting this assessment, we addressed the 10 specific areas of congressional interest related to Secure Flight outlined in Public Law 108-334."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a Congressional request that we investigate potential security weaknesses related to the installation of radiation detection equipment at U.S. ports of entry. We focused our efforts on testing whether the radiation portal monitors installed at the U.S. ports of entry would detect radioactive material transported in vehicles attempting to enter the United States. We also agreed to provide our observations regarding the procedures that Department of Homeland Security U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) inspectors followed when the radiation portal monitors detected such material. We have reported on the security of our nation's northern border in terms of detection of illegal transport of radioactive material into the United States in our previous work."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To address the threat of dirty bombs and other nuclear material, the federal government has programs in place that regulate the transportation of radioactive sources and to prevent illegal transport of radioactive sources across our nation's borders. The Department of Homeland Security through the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) uses radiation detection equipment at ports of entry to prevent such illicit entry of radioactive sources. The goal of CBP's inspection program is to "...thwart the operations of terrorist organizations by detecting, disrupting, and preventing the cross-border travel of terrorists, terrorist funding, and terrorist implements, including Weapons of Mass Destruction and their precursors." Deploying radiation detection equipment is part of CBP's strategy for thwarting radiological terrorism and CBP is using a range of such equipment to meet its goal of screening all cargo, vehicles, and individuals coming into the United States. Most travelers enter the United States through the nation's 154 land border ports of entry. CBP inspectors at ports of entry are responsible for the primary inspection of travelers to determine their admissibility into the United States and to enforce laws related to preventing the entry of …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO is releasing two reports today on U.S. efforts to combat nuclear smuggling in foreign countries and in the United States. Together with the March 2005 report on the Department of Energy's Megaports Initiative, these reports represent GAO's analysis of the U.S. effort to deploy radiation detection equipment worldwide. In my testimony, I will discuss (1) the progress made and challenges faced by the Departments of Energy (DOE), Defense (DOD), and State in providing radiation detection equipment to foreign countries and (2) the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) efforts to install radiation detection equipment at U.S. ports of entry and challenges it faces."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is modernizing the paper-intensive processes and antiquated information systems it uses to support the retirement of civilian federal employees through the Retirement Systems Modernization (RSM) program. In January 2008, we reported on the agency's management of this program, in which we noted concerns and made recommendations for improvement in four key areas: (1) system testing, (2) system defect resolution, (3) program cost estimation, and (4) program earned value management. The explanatory statement of the House Appropriations Committee regarding the fiscal year 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act directed OPM to submit to Cpngressional Committees and to GAO not later than February 20, 2008, a report of its actions on the four areas of concern that we identified. Further, the explanatory statement directed that GAO provide to Congressional Committees and to OPM our comments on the agency's report."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) is subject to most U.S. laws but, under the terms of its 1976 covenant with the United States, administers its own immigration system. It has applied this flexibility to admit substantial numbers of foreign workers, in addition to admitting tourists and foreign investors. The covenant grants Congress the right to apply federal immigration law to the CNMI. On December 11, 2007, the House of Representatives passed legislation applying U.S. immigration law to the CNMI; as of report issuance, this legislation was pending in the Senate. If passed, it will amend the covenant and will apply federal immigration law to the CNMI 1 year after the legislation's enactment, subject to a transition period that begins 1 year after enactment but may be delayed 180 days. GAO was asked to review key provisions of the pending legislation, current U.S. immigration law, and current CNMI immigration law, particularly regarding (1) foreign workers, (2) tourists, and (3) foreign investors. The Departments of Homeland Security and the Interior generally agreed with the findings in this report, and the Department of Labor provided no …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "DOD has more than $1 trillion worth of major defense acquisition programs, on which it must report to Congress, including a comparison of a current program's costs to a baseline containing its cost, quantity, schedule, and performance goals. When these goals are changed, the program is "rebaselined" to reflect current status. However, measuring current estimates against the most recent baseline without additional perspectives may obscure for Congress how programs are performing over time. Concerned over this, you asked GAO to examine how DOD's use of rebaselining has affected the adequacy of data provided to Congress on major defense acquisition programs."