A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Customs Service's efforts to combat drug-related corruption, focusing on: (1) the extent to which Customs has complied with policies and procedures for ensuring employee integrity; (2) an identification of the types of illegal drug-related activities of which Customs employees on the Southwest Border have been convicted; (3) an identification of the Department of the Treasury's organizational structures, policies, and procedures for handling allegations of drug-related employee misconduct and whether the policies and procedures were followed; and (4) the extent to which lessons learned from corruption cases closed in fiscal years 1992 through 1997 have led to changes in policies and procedures for preventing the drug-related corruption of Customs employees."

A statement of record issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Superfund hazardous waste cleanup program, focusing on: (1) the progress, cleanup pace, and accomplishments of the program; (2) trends in the amount of funds that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spends on administrative and support activities in the program and the amount of these costs that it recovers from parties contributing to contamination at Superfund sites; (3) the number and types of waste sites that may be cleaned up by the program in the future; and (4) barriers to the redevelopment of brownfields--abandoned and idled industrial properties, often located in economically distressed urban areas--and federal efforts to remove these barriers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the year 2000 compliance status of biomedical equipment, focusing on: (1) the status of the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Federal Year 2000 Biomedical Equipment Clearinghouse; (2) the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) and the Department of Veterans Affairs' (VA) positions on GAO's recommendation to obtain and review the test results supporting manufacturers' compliance certifications for critical care/life support medical devices; and (3) information on the biomedical equipment compliance status of health care providers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Breast Cancer Research Semipostal (BCRS), focusing on the: (1) appropriateness and effectiveness of the BCRS as a fundraiser; and (2) costs associated with developing and selling the BCRS."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) new rule on federal motor vehicle safety standards and occupant crash protection. GAO noted that: (1) the final rule amends the occupant crash protection standard to require that future air bags be designed to create less risk of serious air bag-induced injuries than current air bags, particularly for small women and young children; (2) NHTSA complied with the applicable requirements with one exception; (3) the final rule has an announced effective date of June 12, 2000; (4) the Congressional Review Act requires major rules to have a 60-day delay in their effective date following publication in the Federal Register or receipt of the rule by Congress, whichever is later; and (5) the rule was not published in the Federal Register until May 12, 2000, which means the final rule will not have the required 60-day delay in the effective date."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed what the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and Department of Defense (DOD) have done and what more they could do to reduce drug prices and dispensing costs, focusing on the: (1) extent of joint DOD and VA drug contracting thus far and the prospects for further contracting; (2) prospects of DOD using VA's consolidated mail outpatient pharmacy (CMOP) centers to handle its hospital outpatient pharmacy refill workload; and (3) possible need for measures to facilitate such joint actions to bring about further improvements."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, focusing on: (1) changes in the number of communities and passengers receiving subsidized service; (2) changes in the level of subsidies provided; and (3) reasons why the subsidy levels changed."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed certain aspects of the Judicial Survivors' Annuities Systems (JSAS), which provides annuities to the surviving spouses and dependent children of deceased federal judges and other judicial officials who participate in JSAS."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on how federal agencies should assess the quality of program performance data."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO discussed the potential security risk to the United States posed by the use of stolen or counterfeit law enforcement badges and credentials."

A briefing report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been growing about the air quality, visibility, and respiratory illnesses around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. This report analyzes recent trends in and contributing factors to (1) visibility impairments, (2) ground-level ozone, and (3) respiratory illnesses. This report also examines the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) plans to reduce its emission of regulated pollutants from generating electricity. Visibility impairments and ozone are largely attributable to the following three types of emissions: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. The counties that border the park generally have slightly higher mortality rates from two types of respiratory illness. The three types of emissions interact in the atmosphere to form ozone gas and sulfate particles, which are linked to respiratory illnesses. In response to federal laws and other factors, TVA is making substantial environment-related investments and expects to reduce its annual emissions of sulfur dioxide by 40 percent and its "ozone-season"' emissions of nitrogen oxides by 70 percent between 1999 and 2005."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Concerns have been growing about the air quality, visibility, and respiratory illnesses around the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, which straddles the border between North Carolina and Tennessee. This testimony analyzes recent trends in and contributing factors to (1) visibility impairments, (2) ground-level ozone, and (3) respiratory illnesses. This testimony also examines the Tennessee Valley Authority's (TVA) plans to reduce its emission of regulated pollutants. Visibility impairments and ozone are largely attributable to the following three types of emissions: sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. The counties that border the park generally have slightly higher mortality rates from two types of respiratory illness. The three types of emissions interact in the atmosphere to form ozone gas and sulfate particles, which are linked to respiratory illnesses. In response to federal laws and other factors, TVA is making substantial environment-related investments and expects to reduce its annual emissions of sulfur dioxide by 36 percent and its "ozone-season" emissions of nitrogen oxides by 68 percent between 1999 and 2005. This testimony summarizes a May report, (GAO-01-658)."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "As of September 1999, the Department of Defense (DOD) reported that it owned secondary inventory worth about $64 billion and that $9.4 billion of that inventory is more economical to retain than to dispose of and possibly repurchase later. This report focuses on whether DOD's economic retention decisions are sound. GAO found that military components (other than the Air Force) have developed models to help make economic retention decisions on secondary inventory. However, none of the components now use their economic retention models. Instead, they and the Air Force use ceilings to limit the amount of economic retention inventory they hold. Components have not properly documented their approaches to economic retention decisions. For example, common model factors vary and assumptions are inconsistent and out of date. In addition, DOD lacked sound analytical support for the maximum levels it now uses. As a result, the components cannot depend on their models or ceilings to determine retention inventory levels without review and improvement. They also have not reviewed their approaches annually. As a result, the Department does not have a sound basis for its approach to manage items …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and the Department of Defense (DOD) have made important progress, particularly during the past year, in their efforts to jointly procure drugs to help control spiraling prescription drug costs. Although their collaborative efforts have been impressive, the two agencies have largely targeted generic drugs, which comprise less than 10 percent of their combined expenditures. More dramatic cost reductions could be achieved through procurements of high-cost brand-name drugs, although doing so can be more complex and time consuming to garner the necessary clinical support and provider acceptance on therapeutic interchangeability. Nonetheless, DOD's greatly expanded retiree drug benefit and the formularies being developed by both agencies should provide added joint procurement opportunities for such drugs. Also, VA and DOD have shown that flexible approaches to developing joint solicitations can take into account differences in their health systems while still maximizing drug discounts. In GAO's view, their joint activities could be further enhanced by periodically conferring with private managed care pharmacy experts and reporting to Congress on their joint procurement activities. Top management at DOD and VA need to stay focused on their …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report discusses the Emergency Steel Loan Program, which provides loan guarantees to qualified steel producing companies. GAO found that there has been only one guaranteed loan disbursed by a private lender for $110 million. With an 85 percent guarantee, the federal government's potential loss is $93.5 million, assuming no repayments and no recovery from property pledged as collateral. The financial condition of program applicants is not strong, and repayments of loans depend upon many future factors. Economic analysis indicates a flat demand for steel, moderate prices, and static imports of foreign steel forecasted for 2002 and 2003. Because of the low loan amount, the program has had a minimal overall effect on the U.S. steel industry through March 2001."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Despite efforts by the international community to reduce the spread of the human immunodeficiency virus, AIDS is now the fourth leading cause of death in the world and the primary cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), funded in part by the United States, is one important international effort against the disease. UNAIDS was established by the United Nations (U.N.) in 1996 to provide coordinated U.N. action and to lead and promote an expanded global response to the worldwide epidemic. This report (1) assesses UNAIDS' progress, especially at the country level, toward increasing the coordination and commitment of the U.N. and global community; (2) assesses UNAIDS' progress in providing technical assistance and information and in developing a monitoring and evaluation plan to measure results; and (3) identifies factors that may have affected UNAIDS' progress. GAO found that UNAIDS has made progress in increasing U.N. coordination and enhancing the global response to the worldwide HIV/AIDS epidemic, but its country-level efforts need to be strengthened. UNAIDS has provided financial and technical support to about 50 HIV/AIDS technical networks worldwide, but has …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "For federal agencies to become high-performing organizations, top management needs to foster performance-based cultures, find ways to measure performance, and use performance information to make decisions. GAO's survey of federal managers found wide differences in how well individual agencies demonstrated a results-based climate. However, transforming organizational cultures is an arduous and long-term effort. Managers' responses suggest that although some agencies are clearly showing signs of becoming high-performing organizations, others are not. The survey provides important information that agency leadership can use to build higher-performing organizations throughout government. GAO will continue to work with senior leadership in the individual agencies to help address the issues raised by their managers in responding to the survey. Congress has a vital role to play as well. As part of its confirmation, oversight, authorization, and appropriation responsibilities, Congress could use the information from GAO's survey, as well as information from agencies' performance plans and reports and GAO's January 2001 Performance and Accountability Series and High-Risk Series, to emphasize performance-based management and to underscore Congress' commitment to addressing long-standing challenges."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Unless the Department of Energy (DOE) revisits its disposal needs and its current option for disposing of wastes off-site, it could miss opportunities to reduce cleanup costs at the Fernald, Oak Ridge, and the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) sites and at other sites, such as Paducah, that might propose the development of new on-site facilities. Building in a decision checkpoint before major investment decisions are finalized could identify instances in which the use of off-site disposal would be less expensive, or when the cost difference no longer outweighs the long-term risks associated with on-site disposal. Such validation of the cost comparison is especially important in instances in which DOE is aware that the scope or timeframe of the cleanup effort has changed dramatically. Remaining open to new proposals for off-site disposal would also inject an element of competition into this process. Thus, even if the validation did nothing more than confirm the original decision to dispose of the wastes on-site, it has the potential to ensure that costs are kept to a minimum."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Securities Investor Protection Act of 1970 created the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) to help protect customers against losses from the failure of a securities firm. However, the large number of claims denied in several recent SIPC liquidation proceedings has raised concerns that some SIPC policies and practices may unduly limit the actual protection afforded customers. This report discusses (1) the basis for SIPC policies involving unauthorized trading and the extent that these policies are disclosed to investors; (2) the basis for SIPC policies involving the affiliates of SIPC member firms and the extent that these policies are disclosed to investors; (3) SEC oversight of SIPC; and (4) the disclosure rules for SIPC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and state insurance guarantee associations, as well as the related implications for consumers as the financial services industry consolidates."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In response to a shortage of math and science teachers and reductions in U.S. military personnel, Congress created the Troops to Teachers (TTT) program in 1992. Until 1995, the program, which was run by the Defense Department, offered stipends to program participants and incentive grants to school districts to hire TTT teachers. Congress transferred the program from DOD to the Department of Education in 1999. This report reviews the program from its beginning in January 1994 until its transfer to Education. GAO found that 13,756 former military personnel applied to the program and were accepted. Of these, 3,821 were hired as teachers from 1994 through 2000; more than 90 percent of those applicants hired as teachers remained in teaching after the first year. However, these participation figures most likely represent the minimum number of former military personnel who used the program's services and became teachers because the figures include only those persons who formally applied to the TTT program and who completed follow-up surveys. Compared with all teachers nationwide, a higher percentage of TTT teachers overall taught math, science, special education, and vocational education and taught …

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report identifies U.S. locations where beryllium was used in workplace processes or detected as present in the workplace. Data show that beryllium was used or detected at locations in 45 of 50 states, plus the District of Columbia. However, the number of locations varied by state. For example, 30 states and the District of Columbia were reported as having from one to 10 locations, while 15 states were reported as having from 11 to 41 locations. The states without reported beryllium use were Alaska, Delaware, Minnesota, Vermont, and Wyoming."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) is increasingly reliant on software and information systems for its weapon capabilities, and DOD prime contractors are subcontracting more of their software development. The increased reliance on software and a greater number of suppliers results in more opportunities to exploit vulnerabilities in defense software. In addition, DOD has reported that countries hostile to the United States are focusing resources on information warfare strategies. Therefore, software security, including the need for protection of software code from malicious activity, is an area of concern for many DOD programs. GAO was asked to examine DOD's efforts to (1) identify software development suppliers and (2) manage risks related to foreign involvement in software development on weapon systems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Federal agencies spend about $1.7 billion annually to operate a fleet of about 387,000 vehicles. During the last decade, concerns have been raised about whether agencies have more vehicles than they need. In an April 2002 letter to federal agencies, the Office of Management and Budget stated that the size of the federal fleet seemed excessive. GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which agencies ensure that their fleets are the right size to meet agency missions, (2) whether potential savings could result from the disposal of unneeded vehicles, and (3) what actions are being taken on a governmentwide basis to improve fleet management practices. GAO focused its review on the justification for acquiring and retaining vehicles at the Departments of Agriculture, Army, Homeland Security, Navy, and Veterans Affairs."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "On June 30, 2004, the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) intends to transfer power in Iraq to a fully sovereign Iraqi interim government. CPA and the Iraq Governing Council took a fundamental step toward this goal in March 2004, when they signed the Law of Administration for the State of Iraq for the Transitional Period (hereafter referred to as the transitional law). The transitional law is intended to govern the affairs of Iraq until Iraqis approve a permanent constitution and a permanent Iraqi government takes office. GAO has ongoing and completed work reviewing various aspects of the U.S. effort to reconstruct Iraq. Our ongoing work includes reviewing the costs associated with reconstruction; the process used to award reconstruction contracts; efforts to develop Iraq's security forces; the rebuilding of Iraq's oil, electricity, and water infrastructure; and programs to help Iraq develop a unified, democratic government. For this report, we describe the following information as it exists at this time: (1) the time frames and Iraqi governmental structures established by the transitional law; (2) arrangements in the law for the U.S.-led multinational force, Iraqi security forces, and militias; and (3) mechanisms …