Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Comptroller General discusses GAO's report on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements for fiscal year 2000. This is the fourth consecutive year that GAO has been unable to express an opinion on the U.S. government's consolidated financial statements. Material weaknesses in internal control and accounting and reporting issues prevented GAO from being able to provide Congress and the American people with an opinion as to whether the government's consolidated financial statements are fairly stated in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. These material weaknesses also affected the reliability of information in the Management's Discussion and Analysis included in the financial report and other financial management information--including information used to manage the government and budget information reported by agencies--which is taken from the same data sources as the financial statements."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Department of Energy (Energy) and its predecessor agencies and contractors have employed thousands of people in the nuclear weapons production complex. Some employees were exposed to toxic substances, including radioactive and hazardous materials, during this work, and many subsequently developed illnesses. Subtitle D of the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 allows Energy to help its contractor employees file state workers' compensation claims for illnesses determined by a panel of physicians to be caused by exposure to toxic substances in the course of employment at an Energy facility. Congress mandated that GAO study the effectiveness of the benefit program under Subtitle D of this Act. This testimony is based on GAO's ongoing work on this issue and focuses on four key areas: (1) the number, status, and characteristics of claims filed with Energy; (2) the extent to which Energy policies and procedures help employees file timely claims for these state benefits; (3) the extent to which there will be a "willing payer" of workers' compensation benefits, that is, an insurer who--by order from or agreement with Energy--will not contest these claims; and (4) a …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The security of the nation's commercial aviation system has been a long-standing concern. Following the events of September 11, 2001, Congress enacted numerous aviation security improvements designed to strengthen aviation security, including the development of a passenger prescreening system and the federalization of airport screeners. Despite these changes, challenges continue to face the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) efforts to improve aviation security. GAO was asked to summarize the results of previous and ongoing aviation security work. These include: (1) the development of CAPPS II to assist in identifying high-risk passengers, (2) the management of passenger and baggage screening programs, (3) the operations of the Federal Air Marshal Service, and (4) other aviations security related efforts, such as cargo, that remain a concern."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The negotiations to establish a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), which would eliminate tariffs and create common trade and investment rules within the 34 democratic nations of the Western Hemisphere, are among the most significant ongoing multilateral trade negotiations for the United States. Two meetings held in April 2001 offer opportunities to inject momentum and set an ambitious pace for the next, more difficult phase of the negotiations. Because of the significance of the FTAA initiative, this report (1) discusses the progress that has been made in the free trade negotiations so far, (2) identifies the challenges that must be overcome to complete a free trade agreement, and (3) discusses the importance of the April meetings of trade ministers and national leaders of participating countries. GAO found that the FTAA negotiations have met the goals and deadlines set by trade ministers. Significant challenges remain, including market access concessions and doubts that key Western Hemisphere leaders will have the political will to embrace the agreement. The April meetings of trade ministers will serve as a transition from the initial proposal phase to the substantive negotiations …

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This document describes the forces that are likely to shape our nation's future, its place in the world, and the changing role of the federal government. This document is an integral part of GAO's strategic plan for serving the Congress for fiscal years 2007 through 2012. Our plan describes our proposed goals and strategies for supporting the Congress and the nation in facing the challenges of a rapidly changing world. In keeping with our commitment to update the plan every 3 years, we have identified seven key themes that provide the context for our plan. These themes are ensuring the nation's readiness to face changing security threats; addressing a range of sustainability challenges from fiscal challenges to environmental challenges; maintaining economic growth and competitiveness; recognizing global interdependencies related to people, information, goods, and capital; adapting to societal changes resulting from demographic and other shifts; maintaining U.S. citizens' quality of life; and managing advancements in science and technology."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides GAO's assessment of what it has been able to accomplish in fiscal year 2000 and presents its plans for continued progress through fiscal year 2002."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The components, military services, and agencies of the Department of Defense (DOD) share many risks in their use of globally networked computer systems to perform operational missions. Many reports of vulnerabilities, organized intrusions, and theft related to department systems and networks have underscored weaknesses in DOD systems. In January 1998, DOD responded to these risks by announcing its plans for a Defense-wide Information Assurance Program to promote integrated, comprehensive, and consistent information assurance (IA) practices across the department. Although the program has addressed issues related to DOD's departmental IA goals, established new IA policy, improved communication across the department, and introduced mechanisms for monitoring IA efforts throughout DOD, many IA issues remain unaddressed. Given the high priority that DOD puts on IA, GAO believes the the program should have made progress on more of its implementation plan objectives by this time and gone further with the ones it has begun to address. Top-level DOD management has not carried out oversight commensurate with the program's high-priority role and the program has not received the resources that were judged necessary by DOD when the program was initiated. DOD …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Education's redesigned discretionary grants process, focusing on: (1) Education's progress in implementing the redesigned awards process; (2) the management controls used to help ensure a fair peer review process and the costs of peer review; and (3) the extent to which grant awards are consistent with the results of peer review and the legislation governing individual grant programs."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Despite methodological limitations, demonstration studies provide program managers and policymakers with some useful information on the types of Special Supplemental Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) nutrition service interventions that can have positive results for participants. However, only one recent demonstration study provides any information on the costs associated with implementing various interventions. Given the limited resources available to provide WIC nutrition services, information on the costs to provide effective services could play a critical role in managers' decisions to implement the intervention and policymakers' decisions on funding the intervention."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The safety of the U.S. food supply is governed by a highly complex system of more than 30 laws administered by 12 agencies. In light of the recent focus on government reorganization, it is time to ask whether the current system can effectively and efficiently respond to today's challenges. At the request of the Subcommittee on Civil Service and Agency Organization, we reviewed and summarized our work on the safety and security of the food supply regarding (1) the fragmented legal and organizational structure of the federal food safety system, (2) the consequences of overlapping and inconsistent inspection and enforcement, and (3) options for consolidating food safety functions."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) power marketing administrations (PMA), focusing on: (1) how the PMAs set their rates to recover costs; (2) how the PMAs' ratesetting practices compare to those of investor-owned and publicly owned utilities; and (3) the impact of the PMAs' ability to defer repayment of portions of their debt on their future competitiveness."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Several Department of Defense (DOD) components have software and systems process improvement (SPI) programs that are aligned closely to the best practices embodied in the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) IDEAL model and thus provide excellent examples of SPI. Elsewhere in DOD, however, such programs are lacking. Where they do exist, these programs are being credited with producing higher quality software and systems products faster and at less expense, whether managed in a centralized or decentralized fashion. The Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) has an important leadership role to play in expanding SPI across the department. In particular, it can seize opportunities to build upon and leverage the existing base of SPI programs within DOD's components and help ensure that all of its components realize the strategic value (i.e., benefits that exceed costs) that both private and public-sector organizations, including some DOD components, attribute to these programs. Although OSD faces funding choices among competing leadership initiatives, such as its efforts to conduct software acquisition maturity assessments and collect software metrics, these are some of the very tasks that are embedded within an effective SPI program. …

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report updates the status of corrective measures taken by federal agencies to address internal control weaknesses that could affect the United States' ability to effectively respond to chemical or biological terrorist attacks. GAO, which cited these weaknesses in 1999, found that the agencies have significantly improved accountability over the medical supplies needed to treat victims of chemical or biological terrorism. However, ensuring that supplies are current, accounted for, and readily available depends in large part on successful collaboration with other entities. Until the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Office for Emergency Preparedness (OEP) formalize ad hoc arrangements with other entities covering the storage, management, stock rotation, and transporting of supplies, they run the risk that, in the event of a chemical or biological attack, the appropriate supplies will be unavailable. Also, unless the agencies' inventory requirements lists are up-to-date and reflect their own identified needs, the agencies cannot guarantee that they have the supplies on hand to fulfill their mission."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Effective tax administration requires a combination of quality customer service to help those who want to comply, and effective enforcement measures against those who do not. For the last few years, we have been reporting on improvements in taxpayer service and declines in enforcement. With respect to IRS's fiscal year 2005 budget request, the Subcommittee asked GAO to assess whether (1) IRS will be able to allocate more resources to enforcement, and (2) Business Systems Modernization (BSM) and other technology efforts will deliver cost savings and efficiencies in the immediate future. For the 2004 filing season performance, GAO was asked to assess IRS's performance in processing returns and providing assistance to taxpayers."

A chapter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO provided information on the Department of Defense's (DOD) Military Housing Privatization Initiative, focusing on the: (1) status of the housing privatization initiative; (2) accuracy of the services' life-cycle cost analyses comparing the cost of proposed privatization projects to comparable projects financed through military construction funds; and (3) progress DOD is making in coordinating and integrating the initiative with other family housing programs."

Other written product issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "This report provides information on three alternative work programs at GAO (1) part-time employment, which is defined to include employees who work a minimum of 32 hours and a maximum of 64 hours in a two week pay period, (2) maxiflex, which permits employees to work longer hours some days so that they are able to compress their schedules to fewer than 10 days in a two week pay period, and (3) flexiplace, which permits employees to work somewhere other than their principal place of business."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "In 1936, the Social Security Administration established the Social Security number (SSN) to track worker's earnings for Social Security benefit purposes. Since its creation, the SSN has evolved beyond its original purpose and has become the identifier of choice for public and private sector entities. Today, the SSN is a key piece of information often sought by identity thieves. Once the SSN is obtained fraudulently, it can then be used to create false identities for financial misuse or assuming another individual's identity. Congress and some states have recognized the importance of restricting the use and display of SSNs. GAO has issued a number of reports and testimonies about the various aspects of SSN use in both public and private sectors and what could be done to further protect individual's SSNs. Accordingly, this testimony focuses on describing (1) the use of SSNs by government agencies and certain private sector entities, (2) the federal laws that regulate the use and disclosure of SSNs, and (3) the gaps that remain in protecting the SSN and what more could be done."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "The Navy's long-range shipbuilding plan spells out its approach to meeting the Navy's future needs. This plan shows the Navy is embarking on an ambitious, expensive undertaking to develop, design, and construct a number of new ship classes. The Navy expects these vessels to successfully execute missions in a variety of environments through use of advanced technologies, while utilizing reduced crews and greater automation to lower costs. The Navy also expects these vessels to be constructed in quantities that sustain the industrial base and expand the overall size of the Navy. The plan calls for the number of ships to increase by about 10 percent to an average of about 309 ships through 2036. This effort will cost billions of dollars. At the request of Projection Forces Subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee, GAO examined the Navy's shipbuilding plan and is providing this discussion of 1) the multiple objectives the plan proposes to meet; 2) the challenges that must be met to execute the plan; and 3) ways the Navy can reduce the tension between the demand for and supply of shipbuilding funds."

Testimony issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "Polar-orbiting environmental satellites provide data and imagery that are used by weather forecasters, climatologists, and the military to map and monitor changes in weather, climate, the oceans, and the environment. They are critical to long-term weather prediction, including advance forecasts of a hurricane's path and intensity. Our nation's current operational polar-orbiting environmental satellite program is a complex infrastructure that includes two satellite systems, supporting ground stations, and four central data processing centers. In the future, the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) is to combine the two current systems into a single, state-of-the-art environment-monitoring satellite system. NPOESS is considered critical to the United States' ability to maintain the continuity of data required for weather forecasting and global climate monitoring though the year 2020. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have formed a tri-agency integrated program office to manage NPOESS. GAO was asked to determine the NPOESS program's current status and plans and to discuss considerations in moving the program forward."

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Computerized control systems perform vital functions across many of our nation's critical infrastructures. For example, in natural gas distribution, they can monitor and control the pressure and flow of gas through pipelines. In October 1997, the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection emphasized the increasing vulnerability of control systems to cyber attacks. At the request of the House Committee on Government Reform, Subcommittee on Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and the Census, this testimony will discuss GAO's March 2004 report on potential cyber vulnerabilities, focusing on (1) significant cybersecurity risks associated with control systems (2) potential and reported cyber attacks against these systems (3) key challenges to securing control systems, and (4) efforts to strengthen the cybersecurity of control systems."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO provided information on the representation of women and minorities in the U.S. Postal Service's Career Executive Service (PCES), focusing on: (1) the overall extent that women and minorities have been represented in the PCES, fiscal years (FY) 1995 through 1999, and have been selected for positions in the PCES, particularly executive positions, in FY 1999; and (2) efforts under way by the Service to promote diversity within the PCES."

Other written product issued by the Government Accountability Office with an abstract that begins "This publication supersedes GAO-04-534SP, GAO Strategic Plan 2004-2009, March, 2004 and has been superseded by GAO-10-559SP, U.S. Government Accountability Office: Strategic Plan 2010-2015, July 2010. In keeping with GAO's commitment to update its strategic plan at least once every 3 years--consistent with the Government Performance and Results Act--this strategic plan describes our proposed goals and strategies for serving the Congress for fiscal years 2007 through 2012. As expected, with the Congress and the nation facing such challenges as the large and growing long-term fiscal imbalance and increased concerns about meeting the health care needs of American citizens, this plan includes bodies of work that address anticipated requests for evaluations of those and other major issues. In addition, our plan covers anticipated work related to major government transformation efforts, especially in the areas of homeland security and defense. Since our last update to the strategic plan, many challenges continue and others have emerged. For example, the war on terrorism has continued, as has the nation's involvement in Iraq and the ensuing reconstruction effort that is still unfolding. Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and predictions of an influenza pandemic …

Testimony issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "The Congress has established, or "designated," 24 national heritage areas to recognize the value of their local traditions, history, and resources to the nation's heritage. These areas, including public and private lands, receive funds and assistance through cooperative agreements with the National Park Service, which has no formal program for them. They also receive funds from other agencies and nonfederal sources, and are managed by local entities. Growing interest in new areas has raised concerns about rising federal costs and the risk of limits on private land use. GAO was asked to review the (1) process for designating heritage areas, (2) amount of federal funding to these areas, (3) process for overseeing areas' activities and use of federal funds, and (4) effects, if any, they have on private property rights."

A letter report issued by the General Accounting Office with an abstract that begins "Telecommunications services are increasingly critical to transforming the way the federal government does business; communicates internally and externally; and interacts with citizens, industry, and state, local, and foreign governments. Electronic government services based on reliable, secure, and cost-effective telecommunications can enable agencies to streamline the way they do business, reduce paperwork and delays, and increase operational efficiencies. It is important that a far-reaching program, such as the FTS2001 program, take full advantage of new services offered by industry; that agencies effectively and efficiently implement these telecommunications services to improve operations; and that the program be successfully implemented to maximize benefits to the taxpayers. Despite progress, the government did not meet its deadlines for transition to FTS2001 and has not yet completed this effort. The government missed its deadline for several reasons, including a lack of sufficient information to effectively oversee and manage this complex transition, slowness in completing all the contract modifications needed to add transition-critical services to the FTS2001 contracts, slowness of some customer agencies to order FTS2001 services, staffing shortfalls and billing problems on the part of FTS2001 contractors, and local exchange carriers' difficulties …