Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Federal Information Security Management Act of 2002 reauthorizes and expands the information security, evaluation, and reporting requirements enacted in the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2001. Concerned that pervasive information security weaknesses place federal operations at significant risk of disruption, tampering, fraud, and inappropriate disclosures of sensitive information, Congress enacted the Government Security Reform Act (GISRA) for more effective oversight. The Federal Information Security Management Act also changes and clarifies information security issues noted in the first-year implementation of GISRA. In particular, the bill requires the development, promulgation of, and compliance with minimum mandatory management controls for securing information and information systems; requires annual agency reporting to both the Office of Management and Budget and the Comptroller General; and defines the evaluation responsibilities for national security systems. To ensure that information security receives appropriate attention and resources and that known deficiencies are addressed, it will be necessary to delineate the roles and responsibilities of the numerous entities involved; obtain adequate technical expertise to select, implement, and maintain controls; and allocate enough agency resources for information security."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Social Security Administration (SSA) provided $450 billion in benefits to 50 million recipients in fiscal year 2001. Since 1995, when SSA became an independent agency, GAO has called for effective leadership and sustained management attention to several unresolved management challenges, including the redesign of its disability claims process, management and oversight problems with its SSI program, future service delivery demands, and implementing its information technology and research and policy development capacity. SSA has much more to do and will need to take bolder action or make more fundamental changes to existing programs."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Last year, President Bush proposed that the World Bank and other development banks replace half of all future loans to the world's poorest countries with grants. The goal of the proposal was to relieve poor countries' long term debt burdens. The World Bank estimates that the proposal would result in a financial loss of $100 billion dollars to it during the next 40 years. GAO found that the proposal would help poor countries reduce their debt burdens and that the World Bank would lose only $15.6 billion, which could be financed through relatively small increases in donor contributions. This testimony is based on an April report. (See GAO-02-593.)"

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Air Force began to test the force requirements in its manpower requirements-determination process in May 2000. The defense strategy envisions simultaneously fighting two major theater wars and conducting multiple contingency operations in peacetime. The Total Force Assessment was the Air Force's first evaluation of manpower adequacy in these contexts since 1995. Because the Total Force Assessment was not implemented as planned, the Air Force cannot demonstrate that it has the forces needed to carry out the full spectrum of military operations. Although intended to examine whether authorized Air Force personnel were sufficient to meet both the wartime and peacetime scenarios, the assessment only addressed the wartime scenario and did not address the adequacy of manpower for conducting multiple contingency operations in peacetime. Air Force officials concluded that manpower was adequate to support the wartime scenario but this assessment was inconclusive because the effort was discontinued before all discrepancies in the assessment's results were resolved. Although the Air Force spent considerable time and effort conducting at least a portion of its planned assessment, it has not used the results to the extent anticipated."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In March, GAO testified on the federal government's fiscal-year implementation of legislative provisions for government information security reform. (See GAO-02-470T.) GAO reported that implementation of the reforms addresses serious, pervasive information security weaknesses. GAO also noted the Office of Management and Budget needs to (1) further guide agencies and encourage them to implement the reform provision requirements and (2) provide Congress with the information it needs for overseeing agencies' implementation, compliance, and corrective actions, as well as for its related budget deliberations."

This report discusses global climate change and the possibility that human activities are releasing gases, including carbon dioxide (CO2), at rates that could affect global climate change.