Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Floods inflict more damage and economic losses upon the United States than any other natural disaster. During the 10 years from fiscal year 1992 through fiscal year 2001, flooding resulted in approximately $55 billion in damages. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is responsible for managing the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP). The program uses flood maps to identify the areas at greatest risk of flooding and make insurance available to property owners to protect themselves from flood losses. According to FEMA, many of the nation's flood maps are more than 10 years old and no longer reflect current flood hazard risks because of erosion and changes in drainage patterns. Moreover, because many flood maps were created or last updated, there have been improvements in the techniques for assessing and displaying flood risks. This testimony is based on GAO's findings and recommendations in its March 2004 report related to (1) how map modernization intended to improve the accuracy and accessibility of the nation's flood maps, (2) what the expected benefits of more accurate and accessible flood maps are, and (3) to what extent FEMA's strategy for managing the …

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Globally, alien smuggling generates billions of dollars in illicit revenues annually and poses a threat to the nation's security. Creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in March 2003 has provided an opportunity to use financial investigative techniques to combat alien smugglers by targeting and seizing their monetary assets. For instance, the composition of DHS's largest investigative component--U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)--includes the legacy Customs Service, which has extensive experience with money laundering and other financial crimes. Another DHS component, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has primary responsibility for interdictions between ports of entry. In summer 2003, ICE announced that it was developing a national strategy for combating alien smuggling. This testimony is based on GAO's May 2005 report on the implementation status of the strategy and investigative results in terms of convictions and seized assets."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "GAO was asked to testify on problems relating to the Department of Defense's (DOD) space system acquisitions. In doing so, we drew on our previous reports related to the causes of acquisition problems, underlying incentives and pressures, and potential solutions."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Improper payments are a longstanding, widespread, and significant problem in the federal government. The Congress enacted the Improper Payments Information Act (IPIA) of 2002 to address this issue. Fiscal year 2004 marked the first year that federal agencies governmentwide were required to report improper payment information under IPIA. One result of the IPIA has been increased visibility over improper payments by requiring federal agencies to identify programs and activities susceptible to improper payments, estimate the amount of their improper payments, and report on the amount of and their actions to reduce their improper payments in their annual Performance and Accountability Reports (PAR). Because of continued interest in addressing the governmentwide improper payments issue, we continue to report on the progress being made by agencies in complying with certain requirements of the IPIA. This testimony summarizes the results of our most recent report on agencies' progress in meeting the requirements of the IPIA. Ultimately, the success of this legislation hinges on each agency's diligence and commitment to identifying, estimating, and determining the causes of, then taking corrective actions, and measuring progress in reducing improper payments."

A letter report issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Defense (DOD) cannot meet its global commitments without continued reserve participation. The Army Reserve provides critical combat support and combat service support units, such as medical and transportation units, to the Army. While Army Reserve members historically could expect to train one weekend a month and 2 weeks a year with activations for limited deployments, since September 11 some have been called upon to support ongoing military operations for a year or more. GAO (1) identified the challenges the Army Reserve faces in continuing to support overseas operations and (2) assessed the extent to which the Army and Army Reserve have taken steps to improve the Army Reserve's readiness for future missions."