The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent, nonpartisan agency that works for Congress. GAO is often called the "congressional watchdog" because it investigates how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. This collection provides a brief abstract of the contents, reports, testimony, legal products, featured issues that evaluate how well government policies and programs are working, investigations into allegations of illegal and improper activities, and issuing of legal decisions and opinions.
Government Accountability Integrity Reliability Office Collection
Excerpt: I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2002 Financial Report of the United States Government issued pursuant to the Government Management Reform Act of 1994. The Report discusses the government?s financial operations for the year and includes financial statements that cover the executive branch, as well as parts of the legislative and judicial branches of the U.S. Government. This is the sixth year that the report has been issued.
Excerpt: I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2003 Financial Report of the United States Government, which presents and discusses the Government?s financial operations for the year. The report includes consolidated financial statements and important disclosures about the government?s stewardship responsibilities. Since the first report pursuant to the Government Management Reform Act of 1994 was issued for fiscal year 1997, we have made great strides in improving the ...
Excerpt: I am pleased to present the fiscal year 2004 Financial Report of the United States Government, reflecting the Treasury Department?s long-standing responsibility and commitment to report on the Nation?s finances. Our objective in preparing these consolidated financial statements is to provide the Congress and the public with a reliable, timely and useful report on the cost of the Government?s operations, the sources used to fund them, and the implications of the ...
Excerpt: Protecting nuclear material from violent use against society has been an issue at the very heart of the nuclear energy debate from its beginning. Although there have been no instances of actual terrorist use of nuclear materials, there is a considerable history of illegal acts directed at C.S. nuclear materials and facilities. While most of these incidents turned out to be hoaxes and posed no imminent danger to the health, safety, or security of the general publ...
Excerpt: To the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the Rouse of Representatives This report discusses the vulnerability of the Nation's electric power systems to disruptions from acts of war, sabotage, and terrorism and analyzes the Federal role in dealing with major, long-term electrical emergencies resulting from such acts. We made this review because of the importance of electricity to the Nation, to inform the Congress of the adequacy of Federcil electrical e...
Excerpt: In response to your July 14, 1981, request we have reviewed the U.S. ability to control and account for highly enriched (weapons-grade) uranium supplied abroad. This report discusses U.S. administrative controls, physical security reviews, international safeguards and the U.S. ability to keep track of exports of highly enriched uranium. This report also addresses the U.S. efforts to develop a non-weapons grade uranium fuel to be used as a substitute for highly enriched uranium.
Excerpt: cx1 December 12, 1585, an Arrow Air DC-E) alrcrdft, chartered to the Multinational Force and &servers (MEG), crashed and burned at Gander, Newfounaland , Canaoa. The crash took the lives of 248 military personnel from the 10lst tirborne Division, Ebrt Campbell, Kentucky, ano 8 crew members from Arrow Arr . In your December 13, 1985 letter, and during subsequent discussions ~th your offices, you asked us to evaluate several issues associated with military ccmnler...
Excerpt: Indicates that the Navy recognizes the importance of the program and has taken some actions to bring about improvements. This report discusses some areas where we believe that further improvements can be made. We identified significant differences in repair rates, turnaround times, and capabilities among intermediate maintenance activities AIthough the Navy is aware of these differences, it has not established a management mechanism for systematically investigat...
Excerpt: During 1986 Congress first tried to reduce the deficit through the Gramm- Rudman-Holdings budget-cutting procedure. When GAO?s role in providing an automatic trigger mechanism for that procedure was ruled unconstitutional, the Congress used the budget reconciiiation process to avoid the pro rata cuts that would otherwise have been required. The resulting savings were estimated to be enough to meet the Gramm-Rudman-HoLlings target. But, as we noted in our Septemb...
Excerpt: This report responds to your January 12, 1987, request that we determine how often and under what circumstances laws imposing sanctions on nations supporting terrorism have been invoked.
Excerpt: As you know, 31 U.S.C. 720 requires the head of a federal agency to submit a written statement on actions taken on our recommendations to the Senate Committee on Government Affairs and the House Committee on Government Operations not later than 60 days after the date of our report and to the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations with the agency?s first request for appropriations made more than 60 days after the date of the report. Additionally, our final...
Excerpt: For a decade or so, there has been some concern that certain foreignborn American citizens might be fulnerable to political harassment or physical violence because birthplace information was shown on U.S. passports. This concern has grown in recent years with the increase in international t.errorism. The Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 1986 directed the Comptroller General to report on the implications of deleting the birthplace as a require...
Excerpt: As requested in your January 21, 1986, letter, and in subsequent discussions with subcommittee representatives, we have gathered information on (1) the role of the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the United States National Central Bureau (USNCB) in combatting terrorism and on (2) USNCB procedures for safeguarding the privacy of U.S. citizens during the exchange of counterterrorism-related information with U.S. and foreign law enforcement agencies.
Excerpt: We appreciate the opportunity tb testify again onc the E-rla..blo a,rI?d.m ,.x pamenger clcreenIi.n g. procasrr--a critical component of the Federal Aviation Adminirttation~s (FAA) Civil Aviation SecurityI ?, Program. The purpose of passenge,,r screening at U. S. aifp,orfs- is to prevent. firearms, explosives , and other dangerous weapons from being ,, carried on board an airplane and presenting a danger to the traveling public.
Excerpt: We appreciate the opportunity on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Civil Aviation Security Program. In prior work1 for this Subcommittee, we presented findibgs concerning shortccxnings of FAA?s preboard passenger screening process --a critical component of FAA's Civil Aviation Security Program. We reported that while the aviation security picogram plays a significant deterrent role and promotes the saf.ety of the traveling public, the screening process...
Excerpt: This report is being provided to officially transmit our December 17, 1987, testimony statement (see app. I), which provides the preliminary results of our review of FAA?s domestic civil aviation security program, and to make several recommendations on the basis of our review work to date. We presented this statement during a hearing before the Subcommittee on Government Activities and Transportation, House Committee on Government Operations. The statement is ba...
Excerpt: As requested in your letter of January 29, 1987, we conducted a survey of the mission and operations of the Federal Aviation Administration?s (FAA) Technical Center located in Pomona, New Jersey.
Excerpt: Two hundred years ago, the Pounding Fathers gathered in Philadelphia to consider revisions to the Articles of Confederation, the basis for the existing govermnent of the United States. At that time, the nations poor financial conditiontrade imbalances, deficient domestic and international-credit, the lack of a national currency and banking system, and other ?problems-was foremost in their minds. lbday, as we celebrate the bicentennial of the Constitution, proble...
Excerpt: In response to your June 19, 1986. letter, this report describes antiterrorism practices undertaken in two components of the nation?s infrastructure-federal court facilities and mass transit systems. We present information on the current roles and responsibilities for antiterrorism policies; managers? perceptions of domestic terrorism threats; existing riskassessment activities to identify threats and the criticality and vulnerability of assets: factors consider...