Memorandum of meeting with China Lake, CA community representatives to gather information regarding the proposed realignments for Naval facilities at China Lake.

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Food Stamp Program and its state activities to increase older Americans' participation and the number of elderly food stamp participants in each state."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Rebuilding Iraq is a U.S. national security and foreign policy priority. According to the President, the United States intends to help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom and has a vital national interest in the success of free institutions in Iraq. As of April 30, 2004, billions of dollars in grants, loans, assets, and revenues from various sources have been made available or pledged to the reconstruction of Iraq. The United States, along with its coalition partners and various international organizations and donors, has embarked on a significant effort to rebuild Iraq following multiple wars and decades of neglect by the former regime. The Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), established in May 2003, was the U.N.-recognized coalition authority led by the United States and the United Kingdom that was responsible for the temporary governance of Iraq. Specifically, the CPA wasresponsible for overseeing, directing, and coordinating the reconstruction effort. On June 28, 2004, the CPA transferred power to a sovereign Iraqi interim government, and the CPA officially dissolved. To pave the way for this transfer, the CPA helped the Iraq Governing Council develop the Law of Administration for the State of …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On March 31, 2004, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) issued an exposure document on a proposed Statement, Share-Based Payment, an Amendment of FASB Statements No. 123 and 95, which addresses the accounting for compensation to employees in the form of equity shares, including stock options. GAO recognizes that this is a complex and controversial issue on which reasonable people can and do disagree. In light of the above, there has been a renewed interest for the Congress to legislate accounting rules for stock options. Notwithstanding our and others' views on the merits of various accounting methods for stock options, GAO believes that the principle of independence, both in fact and in appearance, is essential to the credibility of and confidence in any authoritative standard-setting processes. With respect to the role of FASB in this and other areas, we support its efforts, as the Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) designated independent private-sector standard-setting body, to identify issues for consideration, prepare exposure documents, conduct outreach efforts and solicit comments on exposure documents, and consider the resulting comments in finalizing and issuing new accounting standards. This time-tested and proven deliberative …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This report responds to a Congressional request for information relating to a June 13, 2006 Congressional hearing on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) farm loan programs. In particular, the May 16, 2006 letter requested that we summarize our findings from the 1990s through 2002 on USDA's farm loan programs. Congress also requested that we provide any GAO opinions on the current management and status of the loan programs and identify any matters that Congress should consider."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has spent and continues to invest hundreds of millions of dollars each year in its U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program to collect, maintain, and share information on selected foreign nationals who enter and exit the United States at over 300 air, sea, and land ports of entry (POEs). The program uses biometric identifiers (digital finger scans and photographs) to screen people against watch lists and to verify that a visitor is the person who was issued a visa or other travel document. GAO's testimony addresses the status of US-VISIT entry and exit capabilities and DHS's management of past and future exit efforts. In developing its testimony, GAO drew from eight prior reports on US-VISIT as well as ongoing work for the committee."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In a May 18, 2004 letter, the Chairman of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security observed that many management and integration challenges remain at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and to strengthen the departmentwide reforms and transformation underway at DHS the Select Committee is considering options such as the Chief Operating Officer (COO) concept to help address these challenges. This letter describes the roles and responsibilities of an effective COO and presents certain options that could serve to strengthen and streamline management functions in a department as large and diverse as DHS. As agreed, we have summarized our reports on the COO concept, organizational transformation, as well as DHS's management and transformation challenges."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congestion is increasing rapidly across the nation and freight traffic is expected to almost double in 20 years. In many places, decision makers cannot simply build their way out of congestion, and traditional revenue sources may not be sustainable. As the baby boom generation retires and the costs of federal entitlement programs rise, sustained, large-scale increases in federal highway grants seem unlikely. To provide the robust growth that many transportation advocates believe is required to meet the nation's mobility needs, state and local decision makers in virtually all states are seeking alternative funding approaches. Tolling (charging a fee for the use of a highway facility) provides a set of approaches that are increasingly receiving closer attention and consideration. This report examines tolling from a number of perspectives, namely: (1) the promise of tolling to enhance mobility and finance highway transportation, (2) the extent to which tolling is being used and the reasons states are using or not using this approach, (3) the challenges states face in implementing tolling, and (4) strategies that can be used to help states address tolling challenges. GAO is not making any …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Special Operations Command's (SOCOM) duties have greatly increased since the attacks of September 11, 2001. Today, Special Operations Forces are at work in Afghanistan and Iraq, and SOCOM has been assigned to lead U.S. efforts in the Global War on Terrorism. SOCOM's acquisitions budget has also greatly increased in this period--more than doubling from $788 million in 2001 to approximately $1.91 billion in 2006. In light of SOCOM's expanded duties, Congress requested that GAO review SOCOM's management of its acquisition programs. GAO's evaluation includes an assessment of: the types of acquisition programs SOCOM has undertaken since 2001 and whether the programs are consistent with its mission; the extent to which SOCOM's programs have progressed as planned; and the challenges SOCOM faces in managing its acquisition programs."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "To protect workers' retirement security, the requesters asked GAO to assess: 1) What is known about conflicts of interest affecting private sector defined benefit (DB) plans? 2) What procedures does the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) have to identify and recover losses attributable to conflicts? 3) What procedures does Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA) have to detect conflicts among service providers and fiduciaries for PBGC-trusteed plans? 4) To what extent do EBSA, PBGC, and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) coordinate their activities to investigate conflicts? GAO interviewed experts, including agency officials, attorneys, financial industry representatives, and academics, and GAO reviewed PBGC documentation and EBSA enforcement materials. GAO analyzed Labor, SEC, PBGC, and private sector data, including data on pensions, pension consultants, and rates of return data, and conducted statistical and econometric analyses."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In May 2001, GAO issued its opinions on the calendar year 2000 financial statements of the Bank Insurance Fund, Savings Association Insurance Fund, and FSLIC Resolution Fund. GAO also issued its opinion on the effectiveness of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation's (FDIC) internal control as of December 31, 2000, and its evaluation of FDIC's compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations for the three funds for the year ended December 31, 2000. This report reviews the internal control weaknesses identified during GAO's audits of the 2000 financial statements, and recommends improvements to address those weaknesses. GAO found that FDIC has several internal control weaknesses related to financial reporting, including the execution of transactions. The weaknesses concern its asset valuation process and its allocation and recovery expenses. Specifically, GAO found that (1) errors in valuing receivership assets caused both overstatements and understatements in determining the allowance for loss related to receivables; (2) a calculation error in valuing equity partnership assets caused an overstatement in the allowance for loss related to other assets; and (3) incorrect operating expense amounts were allocated and recovered, which resulted in the incorrect distribution …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) requires agencies to certify the security controls of their information systems and to formally authorize and accept the risk associated with their operation (a process known as accreditation). These processes support requirements of the Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 (FISMA). Further, OMB requires agencies to report the number of systems authorized following certification and accreditation as one of the key FISMA performance measures. In response to the Congressional request, GAO (1) identified existing governmentwide requirements and guidelines for certifying and accrediting information systems, (2) determined the extent to which agencies have reported their systems as certified and accredited, and (3) assessed whether their processes provide consistent, comparable results and adequate information for authorizing officials."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) and subsequent legislation authorized about $13.5 billion in guaranteed funding for the Federal Transit Administration's (FTA) New Starts program, which is used to select fixed guideway transit projects, such as rail and trolley projects, and to award full funding grant agreements (FFGA). GAO assessed the New Starts process for the fiscal year 2006 cycle. GAO identified (1) the number of projects that were evaluated, rated, and proposed for new FFGAs and the proposed funding commitments in the administration's budget request; (2) changes FTA has made to the New Starts application, evaluation, rating, and oversight processes since the fiscal year 2001 evaluation cycle and how these changes have been communicated to project sponsors; and (3) how FTA developed the measures used to evaluate and rate projects from the criteria outlined in TEA-21 and how those measures are used in the rating process."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses information that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) provided to Congress on its investigation of Wen Ho Lee, a scientist formerly employed at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. GAO focuses on whether the congressional testimony of Neil J. Gallagher, Assistant Director of the FBI's National Security Committee, was false or purposely misleading. GAO found that part of Mr. Gallagher's testimony before the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs, in which he expressed full confidence in an administrative inquiry by the Department of Energy, was inaccurate and misleading. Mr. Gallagher had ample opportunity to know and should have known that the FBI's Albuquerque Field Office had concerns about the administrative inquiry. Although GAO concluded that Mr. Gallagher's testimony was inaccurate, GAO was unable to determine whether he intentionally misled the Committee."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) enforces the nation's environmental laws and regulations through its Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA). While OECA provides overall direction on enforcement policies and occasionally takes direct enforcement action, many enforcement responsibilities are carried out by EPA's 10 regional offices. In addition, these offices oversee the enforcement programs of state agencies that have been delegated the authority to enforce federal environmental protection regulations. This testimony is based on GAO's reports on EPA's enforcement activities issued over the past several years and on observations from ongoing work that is being performed at the request of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies, House Committee on Appropriations. GAO's previous reports examined the (1) consistency among EPA regions in carrying out enforcement activities, (2) factors that contribute to any inconsistency, and (3) EPA's actions to address these factors. Our current work examines how EPA, in consultation with regions and states, sets priorities for compliance and enforcement and how the agency and states determine respective compliance and enforcement roles and responsibilities and allocate resources for these …

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicaid--the federal-state health care financing program covering nearly 54 million low-income people at a cost of $276 billion in fiscal year 2003--is by its size and structure at risk of waste and exploitation. Because of challenges inherent in overseeing the program, administered federally by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), GAO in 2003 added Medicaid to its list of high-risk federal programs. To help administer the program, states may employ consultants in a number of roles, sometimes under contracts whereby payment is contingent upon the consultant's performance. GAO was asked to report on states' use of contingency-fee consultants. GAO examined the extent to which (1) states are using contingency-fee consultants for projects to maximize federal Medicaid reimbursements, (2) claims from contingency-fee projects in selected states are consistent with federal law and policy, and (3) states and CMS are overseeing claims from such projects."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Although pilots and other crew members are currently prohibited from carrying weapons on-board aircraft, the Aviation and Transportation Security Act raises the possibility of arming pilots in the future. In responses to a congressional request, GAO provided information on reasons for and against allowing pilots to carry firearms in the cockpit; questions to be addressed if pilots were armed; and possible alternatives to arming pilots, such as providing them with less than lethal weapons. Proponents' and opponents' views on firearms in the cockpit fall into four categories: the potential effectiveness, risk, and cost-effectiveness of pilots carrying weapons, and policy issues that would arise if pilots were allowed to carry weapons. GAO concluded that without additional research, the potential benefits, risks, and costs of using weapons on aircraft cannot be fully determined."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicare spending on imaging services, among which are ultrasound procedures that use sound waves to facilitate diagnosis, nearly doubled from 1999 to 2004. The Congress required GAO to examine Medicare's payment methods for ultrasound procedures and whether the technicians that conduct them--called sonographers--should be subject to qualification standards, such as having to undergo a certification process called credentialing. This report addresses (1) the ultrasound procedures commonly used to diagnose medical conditions of Medicare beneficiaries, particularly for beneficiaries in a skilled nursing facility (SNF), (2) the financial impact of changing how Medicare pays for ultrasound exams and associated equipment and ambulance transportation for beneficiaries in a SNF, and (3) the factors for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to consider in determining whether to establish credentialing or other requirements for sonographers. For this review, GAO analyzed Medicare claims data and conducted interviews and literature reviews."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Congress limited the Executive Office of the President's use of systems modernization funds until the White House gave Congress a report that included an enterprise architecture, a description of information technology (IT) capital planning and investment control processes, a capital investment plan, and an IT human capital plan. The White House submitted its report to Congress in March 2002. GAO reviewed the report and found progress in the following four areas: (1) developing an officewide blueprint for modernizing its enterprise architecture; (2) defining officewide IT capital planning and investment control processes for implementing the enterprise architecture consistent with best practices; (3) correcting existing system problems and introducing infrastructure upgrades consistent with its defined technical rules and definitions; and (4) facilitating ongoing and planned efforts to complete the enterprise architecture, expand the capital planning and investment process, and manage the implementation of its fiscal year 2002 and 2003 capital investment plans. The White House has also begun using effective IT human capital management practices. Theses efforts should be considered a work in progress rather than a completed task. Therefore, the success of the White House's modernization effort depends on …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Recent U.S. combat operations in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq benefited from new Department of Defense (DOD) strategies and technologies, such as improvements in force networks and increased use of precision weapons, designed to address changes in the security environment resulting from the continuing terrorist threat and the advent of the information age. Based on the authority of the Comptroller General, GAO reviewed these conflicts, with a focus on bombing operations, to gain insight into the changes being implemented by DOD. This report focuses on (1) assessing the impact on operational effectiveness of improvements in force networks and in the use of precision weapons and (2) identifying key barriers to continued progress."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) included a provision that requires states to obtain documentary evidence of U.S. citizenship or nationality when determining eligibility of Medicaid applicants and current beneficiaries; self-attestation of citizenship and nationality is no longer acceptable. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued regulations states must follow in obtaining this documentation. Interested parties have raised concerns that efforts to comply with the requirement will cause eligible citizens to lose access to Medicaid coverage and will be costly for states to implement. GAO was asked to examine how the requirement has affected individuals' access to Medicaid benefits and assess the administrative and fiscal effects of implementing the requirement. To do this work, GAO surveyed state Medicaid offices in the 50 states and the District of Columbia about their perspectives on access issues and the administrative and fiscal effects of the requirement. GAO obtained complete responses from 44 states representing 71 percent of national Medicaid enrollment in fiscal year 2004. GAO also reviewed federal laws, regulations, and CMS guidance."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since the Workforce Investment Act's (WIA) enactment in 1998, GAO has issued numerous reports that included recommendations regarding many aspects of WIA, including performance measures and accountability, funding formulas and spending, one-stop centers, and training, as well as services provided to specific populations, such as dislocated workers, youth, and employers. Collectively, these studies employed an array of data collection techniques, including surveys to state and local workforce officials and private sector employers; site visits; interviews with local, state, and Labor officials; and analysis of Labor data and documents. This testimony draws upon the results of these reports, issued between 2000 and 2007, as well as GAO's ongoing work on one-stop infrastructure, and discusses issues raised and recommendations made. Specifically, the testimony addresses (1) progress made by federal, state, and local officials in implementing key provisions of WIA; and (2) challenges that remain in implementing an integrated employment and training system."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Medicaid--the federal-state health care financing program covering almost 54 million low-income people at a cost of $276 billion in fiscal year 2003--is by its size and structure at significant risk of waste and exploitation. Because of challenges inherent in overseeing the program, which is administered federally by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), GAO added Medicaid to its list of high-risk federal programs in 2003. Over the years, states have found various ways to maximize federal Medicaid reimbursements, sometimes using consultants paid a contingency fee to help them do so. From earlier work and a report issued today (GAO-05-748), GAO's testimony addresses (1) how some states have inappropriately increased federal reimbursements; (2) some ways states have increased federal reimbursements for school-based Medicaid services and administrative costs; and (3) how states are using contingency-fee consultants to maximize federal Medicaid reimbursements and how CMS is overseeing states' efforts."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Since it was established in 1982, GAO has consistently reported on the success of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program in benefiting small, innovative companies, strengthening their role in federal research and development (R&D), and helping federal agencies achieve their R&D goals. However, through these reviews GAO has also identified areas where action by participating agencies or the Congress could build on the program's successes and improve its operations. This statement for the record summarizes the program's successes and improvements over time, as well as the continuing challenge of assessing the long term results of the program."