Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In fiscal year 2007, Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained over 311,000 aliens, with an average daily population of over 30,000 and an average length of stay of about 37 days in one of approximately 300 facilities. The care and treatment of aliens while in detention is a significant challenge to ICE, as concerns continue to be raised by members of Congress and advocacy groups about the treatment of the growing number of aliens while in ICE's custody. This testimony focuses on (1) the extent to which 23 facilities complied with medical care standards, (2) deficiencies found during ICE's annual compliance inspection reviews, and (3) the types of complaints filed by alien detainees about detention conditions. This testimony is based on GAO's July 2007 report evaluating, among other things, the extent to which 23 facilities complied with aspects of eight of ICE's 38 National Detention Standards. This report did not address quality of care issues."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In response to the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, the Congress enacted the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act (Stabilization Act) that provided, among other things, $5 billion in emergency assistance to compensate the nation's air carriers for losses incurred as a result of the attacks. Pursuant to a previous congressional request, we monitored the Department of Transportation's (DOT) progress in administering the emergency assistance program. As a result of our work, we reported on the payment process DOT employed to administer the program, details on the losses claimed by the air carriers, and the payments disbursed under the program. Now, Section 824 of the Vision 100 Century of Aviation Reauthorization Act requires that we report on the criteria and procedures used by DOT to compensate air carriers under the Stabilization Act emergency assistance program with a particular focus on whether it is appropriate to compensate air carriers for the decrease in value (asset impairment) of their aircraft after September 11, 2001, and to ensure that comparable air carriers receive comparable percentages of the maximum compensation payable. DOT published its criteria and procedures …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In the 2 years since passage of the Aviation and Transportation Security Act (ATSA), the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has primarily focused its efforts on improving aviation security through enhanced passenger and baggage screening. The act also contained provisions directing TSA to take actions to improve the security of airport perimeters, access controls, and airport workers. GAO was asked to assess TSA's efforts to: (1) evaluate the security of airport perimeters and the controls that limit access into secured airport areas, (2) help airports implement and enhance perimeter security and access controls by providing them funding and technical guidance, and (3) implement measures to reduce the potential security risks posed by airport workers."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Bonneville Power Administration produces a large portion of the Pacific Northwest's electric power, largely from hydroelectric projects in the Federal Columbia River Power System. Bonneville also has obligations to protect, mitigate, and enhance fish and wildlife populations affected by these hydroelectric projects. In the past several years, Bonneville has experienced financial difficulties, in part because of rising costs of providing power, lower-than-projected revenue from selling surplus power, and drought conditions. Bonneville's financial situation may adversely affect fish and wildlife. Stakeholders have expressed concern that Bonneville has effectively reduced spending on fish and wildlife programs. This testimony addresses (1) Bonneville's statutory and other obligations to support fish and wildlife programs, (2) Bonneville's historical spending and other efforts in support of fish and wildlife, (3) Bonneville's current financial condition, (4) Bonneville's recent actions that affect fish and wildlife programs, and (5) challenges Bonneville faces in supplying electricity to the region while simultaneously protecting, mitigating and enhancing fish and wildlife."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "In September and October 2001, the first cases of anthrax bioterrorism occurred in the United States when letters containing anthrax were mailed to congressional leaders and members of the news media. As the cleanup of the Capitol Hill anthrax site progressed, EPA's estimates of the cleanup costs steadily rose. GAO was asked to describe (1) the costs EPA incurred to conduct the cleanup and how it was funded, (2) the extent to which EPA awarded the cleanup contracts competitively, (3) EPA's oversight of the contractors' work and any suggested changes to EPA's contracting practices, and (4) the extent to which EPA agreed to indemnify contractors against liability for potential damages related to the cleanup."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Numerous federal agencies conduct water, power, or resource management activities affecting the fish and wildlife of the Columbia River Basin, as well as the 13 tribes residing there. These agencies, such as the Bonneville Power Administration (Bonneville), Army Corps of Engineers, and Forest Service, and regulatory agencies, such as the National Marine Fisheries Service, are also responsible for protecting, sustaining, and enhancing fish and wildlife resources in the basin and involving the tribes in the process. Recently, Bonneville's financial position deteriorated significantly, and some tribes in the basin challenged Bonneville's actions modifying funding of fish and wildlife activities in federal court. In this context, GAO agreed to (1) identify and describe the laws, treaties, executive orders, and court decisions that define federal responsibilities to perform activities benefiting fish and wildlife in the basin and involve the tribes, and (2) describe the plans and programs that guide these respective fish and wildlife activities. In accordance with our policy to refrain from addressing matters that are in litigation, GAO did not examine any issues that are before the court."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of State's (State) Antiterrorism Assistance (ATA) program's objectives are to provide partner nations with counterterrorism training and equipment, improve bilateral ties, and increase respect for human rights. State's Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism (S/CT) provides policy guidance and its Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Office of Antiterrorism, Assistance (DS/T/ATA), manages program operations. GAO assessed (1) State's guidance for determining ATA priorities, (2) how State coordinates ATA with other counterterrorism programs, (3) the extent State established ATA program goals and measures, and (4) State's reporting on U.S. counterterrorism assistance. This statement is based on a February 2008, GAO report titled Combating Terrorism: State Department's Antiterrorism Program Needs Improved Guidance and More Systematic Assessments of Outcomes, GAO-08-336 (Washington, D.C.: Feb. 29, 2008)."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) faces complex financial and management problems that are deeply rooted in DOD's business operations and management culture. During the past 12 years, DOD has begun several broad-based departmentwide reform efforts to overhaul its financial operations and other key business areas. These efforts have been unsuccessful. GAO identified several key elements that are essential to the success of any DOD financial management reform effort. These include (1) addressing the department's financial management challenges as part of a comprehensive, integrated, DOD-wide business reform; (2) providing for sustained leadership and resource control to implement needed reforms; (3) establishing clear lines of responsibility, authority, and accountability for such reform; (4) incorporating results-oriented performance measures and monitoring tied to the reforms; (5) providing appropriate incentives or consequences for action or inaction; (6) establishing and implementing an enterprise architecture to guide and direct financial management and modernization investments, and (7) ensuring effective oversight and monitoring."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 2007, GAO designated ensuring the effective protection of technologies critical to U.S. national security interests as a high-risk area. Each year, the Department of Defense spends billions of dollars to develop and produce technologically advanced weaponry. To enhance its foreign policy, security, and economic interests, the U.S. government must approve selling these weapons and defense-related technologies overseas and has a number of programs to identify and protect the critical technologies involved in these sales. These programs include export control systems for weapons and defense-related technologies, the foreign military sales program, and reviews of foreign investments in U.S. companies. Yet, these weapons and technologies continue to be targets for theft, espionage, reverse engineering, and illegal export. This testimony (1) provides an overview of the safety net of government programs and processes aimed at ensuring the effective protection of technologies critical to U.S. national security interests and (2) identifies the weaknesses and challenges in the U.S. export control system--one of the government programs to protect critical technologies. This statement is based on GAO's high-risk report and its extensive body of work on the government's programs designed to protect technologies …

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "FAA uses a variety of approaches, including certifying airplane design and inspecting air carriers, to oversee procedures and technologies that prevent or mitigate the effects of dense, continuous smoke in the cockpit. In the course of our review, we identified five such procedures and technologies that FAA oversees. They are:(1) Evacuation of dense smoke from the cockpit—FAA’s certification standards for aircraft design include that smoke evacuation must be readily accomplished. Additionally, FAA’s guidelines state that airplane manufacturers may demonstrate compliance with this requirement by evacuating dense smoke from the cockpit within 3 minutes. The guidelines also recommend, but do not require, that manufacturers demonstrate the capability to evacuate continuously generated smoke from the cockpit. However, according to FAA, no manufacturer has yet chosen to demonstrate this capability.(2) Protective breathing equipment for the flightcrew—FAA requires air carriers to provide protective breathing equipment that protects the flightcrew from the effects of smoke. The equipment must supply breathing gas for at least 15 minutes, must allow the pilots to use communication equipment, and must be readily accessible by the pilot. FAA inspections of aircraft include checks of this equipment.(3) Pilot training …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Multiple federal programs provide services and support to the approximately 50 million individuals with disabilities in America. While some health and economic data on people with disabilities are currently available, these data have limited use in providing a comprehensive assessment of how these individuals are faring. Additionally, the lack of more useful data limits the federal government's ability to determine how well federal programs are serving individuals with disabilities. GAO is providing information on (1) the limitations of data currently available to assess the status of individuals with disabilities and (2) how better coordination could help facilitate the collection of such data to inform policy decisions. This statement is based on prior GAO reports, including the May 2008 report on modernizing federal disability programs (GAO-08-635), the 2007 Comptroller General's forum on disability (GAO-07-934SP), and multiple reports on national indicators (e.g. GAO-05-1); and studies by other organizations, including the National Council on Disability."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Research and development are major factors in the growth and progress of industry and the national economy. However, basic research done by the nation's research institutions--universities and colleges, federal laboratories, and nonprofit research centers--may not translate into marketable technologies. To link the ideas and resources of the research institutions with the commercialization experience of small businesses, Congress authorized the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Pilot Program in 1992 and reauthorized it in fiscal year 1997. The STTR program is scheduled to expire in September 2001. Each of the five participating federal agencies manages its own program, while the Small Business Administration plays a central administrative role, issuing policy directives and annual reports for the program. The program, which requires that small businesses partner with a nonprofit research institution, is closely modeled to the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. In preparation for the review and potential reauthorization of the STTR program, this correspondence identifies participating companies' views on (1) the contributions that the companies and the research institutions made to research and development, (2) the results of research and development, and (3) options for the future relationship between …

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program, focusing on: (1) the distribution of awards by company and geographic area, with special emphasis on the share of awards received by the 25 most frequent winners; (2) the extent to which federal agencies are considering commercial potential and the program's other goals in making their awards; and (3) previous evaluations of the SBIR program to identify opportunities to improve measurements of the program's outcomes."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The United States spent $50 billion (2002 dollars) on food aid between 1979 and 2003. Notwithstanding these sizable donations and donations by other countries, the need for food aid in the developing world far exceeds available supply. U.S. food aid is provided through six programs administered by the Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). These programs use various methods for providing resources and have different ways of delivering aid to the recipient nations. USAID manages the largest program--P.L. 480, Title II--using annual appropriations to purchase commodities that are then donated to recipient nations principally through private voluntary organizations and the World Food Program. The large fluctuations in U.S. food aid since 1990 are the result of three key factors: U.S. food aid policies, agricultural surpluses, and international events. The success of food aid programs in meeting their objectives is hampered by the competing objectives of the programs and by management weaknesses such as a lack of management attention to monitoring and accountability in food aid programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the extent to which individuals residing in long-term care facilities are improperly included as members of food stamp households, focusing on: (1) how many individuals were included as members of food stamp households while they were residing in long-term care facilities and the estimated value of the overpayments to those households; and (2) whether computer matching is a practical means for identifying such overpayments."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Geothermal energy is heat from the earth that can be used to generate electricity. The Department of the Interior's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) has the primary responsibility for leasing public lands to private companies for geothermal development. In addition, the Secretary of each military department has the authority to develop geothermal resources on military lands and to keep the proceeds from the sale of electricity generated from those resources for use by the Department of Defense. The Navy's Geothermal Program Office, located at the China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station in California, manages and develops geothermal resources for the military. Currently, two geothermal power plants at China Lake are the only ones on military lands. A private company, which built, owns, and operates the power plants at China Lake, sells the electricity to a utility company and pays the Navy royalties on these sales as well as other types of compensation. GAO was asked to provide information on (1) the Navy's annual revenues from the geothermal facility at China Lake, (2) how the Navy uses the revenues it collects from the geothermal facility, (3) the …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "People are at the heart of an organization's ability to perform its mission. Yet a key challenge for the Department of Defense (DOD), as for many federal agencies, is to strategically manage its human capital. DOD's proposed National Security Personnel System would provide for wide-ranging changes in DOD's civilian personnel pay and performance management and other human capital areas. Given the massive size of DOD, the proposal has important precedent-setting implications for federal human capital management. This testimony provides GAO's observations on DOD human capital reform proposals and the need for governmentwide reform."

Correspondence issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on its audit responsibilities for independent counsels who have completed their investigations or whose offices have been officially terminated."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Congress created individual retirement accounts (IRAs) with two goals: (1) to provide a retirement savings vehicle for workers without employer-sponsored retirement plans, and (2) to preserve individuals' savings in employer-sponsored retirement plans. However, questions remain about IRAs' effectiveness in facilitating new, or additional, retirement savings. GAO was asked to report on (1) how IRA assets compare to assets in other retirement plans, (2) what barriers may discourage small employers from offering IRAs to employees, and (3) the adequacy of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) and the Department of Labor's (Labor) oversight of and information on IRAs. GAO reviewed reports from government and financial industry sources and interviewed experts and federal agency officials."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) plays a critical role in supporting America's military forces worldwide. DLA employs about 28,000 civilian and military workers at about 500 sites in all 50 states and 28 countries; in round numbers, it manages 4 million supply items and processes 30 million annual supply distribution actions. This report reviews DLA's efficiency and effectiveness in managing it is Business Systems Modernization (BSM) acquisition program. Specifically GAO determines (1) whether DLA is using an enterprise architecture to guide and constrain its investment in (BSM) and (2) whether DLA is investing in BSM in an incremental manner. GAO found that DLA does not have an enterprise architecture to guide its investment in BSM. DLA plans call for creating an architecture as a byproduct of BSM's implementation. In addition, GAO found that DLA has not been managing its investment in this program in an incremental manner; that is, DLA has not treated the first of its four planned incremental releases of BSM as a separate investment decision. Instead, DLA has thus far treated the entire BSM program as a single investment decision, according to BSM …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This testimony discusses how local and regional procurement (LRP) can provide opportunities to enhance U.S. food aid, though challenges can constrain its implementation. This hearing is of particular importance given today's environment of increasing emergencies and growing global food insecurity, in which the United States and other donors face intense pressures to feed the world's expanding undernourished population. In September 2008, the United Nations (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reported that high food prices had resulted in the number of undernourished people reaching a record 963 million. LRP has increasingly become a key element in the multilateral food aid response over the past decade. Most bilateral donors of food aid have switched from commodity-based in-kind food aid to a cash-based food assistance program in recent years. As the largest international food aid donor, contributing over half of all food aid supplies to alleviate hunger and support development, the United States plays an important role in responding to emergency food assistance needs and ensuring global food security. The large majority of U.S. food assistance is for U.S.-grown commodities purchased competitively in the United States and shipped to recipient …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Institutions that may receive funding under Titles III and V include Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges, Hispanic Serving Institutions, Alaska Native Serving Institutions, Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, and other postsecondary institutions that serve low-income students. In fiscal year 2006, these programs provided $448 million in funding for over 500 grantees, nearly double fiscal year 1999 funding of $230 million. GAO examined these programs to determine (1) how institutions used their Title III and Title V grants and the benefits they received from using these grant funds, (2) what objectives and strategies the Department of Education (Education) has developed for Title III and Title V programs, and (3) to what extent Education monitors and provides assistance to these institutions. This testimony updates a September 2004 report on these programs (GAO-04-961). To update our work, GAO reviewed Education policy and planning documents, and program materials and grantee performance reports; interviewed Education officials; and analyzed Education data on grantee characteristics."

Correspondence issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In November 2007, we issued our report on the results of our audit of the Internal Revenue Service's (IRS) financial statements as of, and for the fiscal years ending, September 30, 2007, and 2006, and on the effectiveness of its internal controls as of September 30, 2007. We also reported our conclusions on IRS's compliance with significant provisions of selected laws and regulations and on whether IRS's financial management systems substantially comply with the requirements of the Federal Financial Management Improvement Act of 1996 (FFMIA). The purpose of this report is to discuss issues identified during our audit of IRS's financial statements as of, and for the fiscal year ending, September 30, 2007, regarding internal controls that could be improved for which we currently do not have a specific recommendation outstanding. Although not all of these issues were discussed in our fiscal year 2007 audit report, they all warrant management's consideration. This report contains 24 recommendations that we are proposing IRS implement to improve its internal controls. We will issue a separate report on the implementation status of recommendations from our prior IRS financial audits and related financial …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "With the heavy pace of operations in support of the war on terrorism, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Air Force have become increasingly concerned about their aging aerial refueling aircraft. We last reviewed the aerial refueling fleet in 1996 and found that KC-135 aircraft were aging and becoming increasingly costly to maintain and operate. In December 2001, we began new work on the Air Force's requirements for refueling aircraft. However, we suspended our work several times to provide testimony and other products on the condition of the current fleet and Air Force plans to accelerate replacement. We were asked to review (1) the extent to which the current fleet has met aerial refueling needs, and the cost and effort to operate and sustain the fleet, (2) DOD's current refueling requirements, and (3) options to meet future aerial refueling needs."