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FBI Internal Audit: Opportunities for Improvement, Report to Congressional Requesters
In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) internal audit activities to determine the: (1) extent of the audits' focus on major FBI investigative programs; (2) steps FBI took to increase the qualifications, independence, and permanence of its inspection and audit staffs; and (3) potential weaknesses in audit quality and effectiveness. GAO found that, since 1979, FBI has: (1) improved its inspection and program evaluation activities by focusing on its 11 major investigative programs during division and field office inspection; (2) evaluated all major investigative programs at least once, except for the recently established FBI Drug Program; and (3) raised the educational and experience requirements for its program evaluation staff. GAO also found that, by filling audit management positions temporarily with special agents, FBI could impair the independence of the internal audits.
United States. General Accounting Office
1988-11-23
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Immigration Reform: Status of Implementing Employer Sanctions After Second Year
"This is the second of three annual GAO reports required by Section 101(a) of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. The act prohibits employers from knowingly hiring unauthorized workers. Noncompliance can result in penalties (sanctions). The act requires us to review the implementation and enforcement of employer sanctions for the purpose of determining if such provisions have been carried out satisfactorily, have caused a pattern of discrimination against U.S. citizens or other eligible workers, and have caused an unnecessary regulatory burden on employers. Since the act has not yet been fully implemented, this report presents information on actions to date. In addition, we discuss several methodological problems that may preclude us from making conclusive determinations on these matters in our next report. […] The general approach INS used during the second year to continue educating employers while increasing enforcement is satisfactory. INS could, however, improve its efforts to determine employer compliance. […] During the second year INS continued to educate employers while increasing enforcement. On the basis of the employer survey, GAO estimates that about 22 percent were not aware the law was passed. For those aware of the law, as many as 20 percent did not clearly understand the law's major provisions."
United States. General Accounting Office
1988-11
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Nuclear Health and Safety: DOE Needs to Take Further Actions to Ensure Safe Transportation of Radioactive Materials, Report to the Chairman, Committee on Governmental Affairs, U.S. Senate
"Annually, the Department of Energy (DOE) makes thousands of shipments of radioactive materials as part of its national defense responsibilities. Federal regulators consider the required containers, or 'packages,' enclosing the radioactive materials to be the primary protection against serious hazards to human health, property, and the environment while the materials are in transit. These packages fall into three categories: strong, tight containers used to ship materials with very low levels of radioactivity, Type A packages used for materials with higher levels of radioactivity but which present a very small hazard, and Type B packages used for highly hazardous materials with radioactivity exceeding Type A package levels. The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs asked GAO to determine whether DOE is effectively self-regulating its transportation of high-level radioactive materials. To do this, GAO centered its work on the adequacy of DOE'S actions to resolve previous safety concerns regarding non-weapons packages and the extent to which problems exist with DOE'S certification of packages for transporting nuclear weapons materials."
United States. Government Accountability Office
1988-09
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Domestic Terrorism: Prevention Efforts in Selected Federal Courts and Mass Transit Systems, Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives
"Terrorist acts in the United States have thus far been too few to raise serious public concern, but the nation faces the dilemma of maintaining an effective level of protection without curtailing civil liberties. Concerned that security measures imposed without thorough study and planning may lead to measures that could be unintentionally repressive of civil liberties, the Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights of the House Committee on the Judiciary asked GAO [Government Accounting Office] to describe what was being done to protect against terrorism in two selected domestic infrastructure components-the federal courts and mass transit systems. GAO'S study framework consisted of six elements: the roles and responsibilities of units and individuals involved; their perceptions of terrorism threats; the existence and quality of risk assessments; risk-reduction selection factors such as concern for civil liberties; implemented riskr-eduction strategies; and evaluations of performance, effectiveness, and intrusiveness. Since GAO sampled only seven sites, used a case-study design. and focused on protective measures, the findings cannot be generalized to all federal courts or mass transit systems or to the totality of U.S. antiterrorism activities."
United States. General Accounting Office
1988-06-23
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Research Animals: Federal Costs for Care of the Silver Spring Monkeys, Report to Congressional Requesters
"Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO [General Accounting Office] provided information regarding a group of monkeys in a National Institutes of Health (NIH) research program, specifically: (1) care, transportation, litigation, and public relations costs after local police removed the monkeys from a private research firm and transferred them to NIH; (2) arrangements for reimbursement from the firm; (3) whether a proposal to build a new facility for the monkeys involved federal funds; and (4) whether the Department of Agriculture (USDA) inspected the grantee's facility prior to the monkeys' removal. GAO found that: (1) as of February 29, 1988, federal costs totaled $105,084, which included $93,404 for care, security, and administration, $2,675 for transportation, $21,600 for litigation, and $427 for public relations, less reimbursements of $13,022 from the grantee; (2) the grantee agreed to reimburse NIH for certain other costs; (3) private sources provided $42,750 for part of the care and transportation costs; (4) no federal funds were used to build facilities for the monkeys; and (5) USDA had inspected the facility yearly, but could not provide the inspection records."
United States. General Accounting Office
1988-06-03
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Animal Welfare Program: Federal Regulation Relating to the Transportation of Dogs, Report to the Honorable Manuel Lujan, Jr., House of Representatives
This GAO [Government Accountability Office] Report is a correspondence between Brian P. Crowley and Representative Manuel Lujan, Jr. regarding the regulations of the transportation of animals.
United States. Government Accountability Office
1988-03
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Nuclear Materials: Section 604, Omnibus Diplomatic Security Antiterrorism Act of 1986: Fact Sheet for Congressional Requesters
Section 604 of the Omnibus Diplomatic Security and Antiterrorism Act of 2986 requires that the Secretaries of defense, Energy, and State; the Director of
the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission shall each review and report on the adequacy of physical security standards for the shipment and storage oE certain amounts of plutonium and enriched uranium outside the United States. The reports were to be provided to the Congress within 6 months of the act's becoming law (by February 27, 1987). This report chronologically outlines key events in the preparation of reports to the congress under section 604 of the omnibus diplomatic security and antiterrorism act of 1986.
Retrieved from: www.archive.gao.gov
United States. General Accounting Office
1988-02
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Aviation Security: Improved Controls Needed To Prevent Unauthorized Access at Key Airports, Report to the Secretary of Transportation
GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) domestic civil aviation security program. GAO found that, at the nation's highest-risk airports, aviation services firms: (1) could not properly account for their terminated employees' identification badges; (2) failed to challenge unidentified personnel who gained access to restricted airport areas; and (3) allowed employees with identification to bypass screening. GAO also found that FAA: (1) required airport and airline employees to undergo full security screening, effective December 21, 1987; and (2) plans to require all U.S. airports to acquire automated identification systems.
United States. General Accounting Office
1988-01-29
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Security at Nation's Highest Risk Airports, Statement of Kenneth M. Mead, Associate Director, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Activities and Transportation Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives
In response to a congressional request, GAO evaluated the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Civil Aviation Security Program to determine the effectiveness of its passenger screening process at airports with the highest security risk. GAO found that: (1) since the security measures at most airports are interrelated, if one measure fails, another measure is in place to support the failed measure; (2) the FAA policy on passenger screening does not ensure that airport and air carrier employees are not carrying dangerous weapons through the screening process; (3) FAA needs to improve accountability and control over personnel identification systems; (4) airport and air carrier employees do not always challenge unauthorized persons or require that all employees display their identification badges; and (5) although FAA requires perimeter barriers, due to the ineffectiveness of the challenge procedures, unauthorized personnel could gain access to these restricted areas. GAO believes that to improve security FAA should: (1) account for identification badges at high-risk airports; (2) reemphasize airline and airport employee responsibility to challenge the presence of unauthorized persons and stress the importance of properly displaying employee identification; and (3) evaluate the extent to which individual airlines should exempt employees from the passenger screening process.
United States. General Accounting Office
1987-12-17
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Immigration Reform: Status of Implementing Employer Sanctions After One Year
"This is the first of three annual GAO reports required by section 101(a) of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. The act prohibits employers from knowingly hiring unauthorized workers. Noncompliance can result in penalties (sanctions). Our report describes the initial efforts to implement and enforce the employer sanctions provisions of the act. The act requires us to review the implementation and enforcement of employer sanctions for the purpose of determining if such provisions have been carried out satisfactorily, have caused a pattern of discrimination against U.S. citizens or other eligible workers, and have caused an unnecessary regulatory burden on employers. Since the act has not yet been fully implemented, this report presents information on actions to date and describes our plans to address these questions in our future work. In addition, we discuss several methodological problems that may preclude us from making conclusive determinations on these matters in our two subsequent reports. In GAO's opinion, the general approach followed during the first year to implement the law has been satisfactory. So far, the data on discrimination related to the law has not shown a pattern of discrimination or unreasonable burden on employers. However, because of the many factors involved, GAO may not be able to isolate and measure the effects of employer sanctions on any identified discrimination. Insufficient data exist for GAO to determine if the act's regulatory burden on employers is unnecessary and it is unlikely such data will be available."
United States. General Accounting Office
1987-11
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FAA's Implementation of a Performance Standard for Passenger Screening Process, Statement of Kenneth M. Mead, Associate Director, Resources, Community, and Economic Development Division, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Government Activities and Transportation, House of Representatives
GAO discussed the preboarding passenger screening process the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) established under its Civil Aviation Security Program to prevent passengers from carrying firearms, explosives, and other dangerous weapons on board airplanes. GAO noted that: (1) FAA developed an enforcement policy which allows it to assess civil penalties when air carrier screening systems fail to detect its test weapons; (2) a 10-month nationwide test of airport screening systems yielded an 80-percent detection rate; and (3) FAA needs to further evaluate the effectiveness of its enforcement policy, focusing on cumulative detection rates, the adequacy of its civil penalties, and its progress in implementing Department of Transportation recommendations for passenger screening.
United States. General Accounting Office
1987-10-22
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Passports: Implications of Deleting the Birthplace in U.S. Passports, Report to the Congress
Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reported on the implications of deleting the birthplace as a required item on U.S. passports in order to avoid possible harassment or violence from terrorists toward U.S. citizens. GAO found that: (1) deletion of the birthplace from passports could cause some inconvenience for U.S. travelers, since several countries indicated that they would not accept passports without birthplace information or would require birth certificates; (2) several law enforcement agencies oppose the deletion; (3) those agencies with border control responsibilities believe that their jobs would become more difficult if other countries also eliminated birthplace information from their passports; and (4) the Department of State could not identify any instance of terrorists singling out an American because of birthplace information on a passport.
United States. General Accounting Office
1987-08-27
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Aviation Security: FAA Needs Preboard Passenger Screening Performance Standards, Report to the Secretary of Transportation
GAO provided information on its work to date on the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) testing of preboard passenger screening. GAO found that, although the preboard screening process has provided a deterrent to crimes against civil aviation, there were wide variations, from a high of 99 percent to a low of 34 percent, in the frequency with which FAA detected weapons.
United States. General Accounting Office
1987-07-24
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Counterterrorism: Role of Interpol and the U.S. National Central Bureau, Briefing Report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Civil and Constitutional Rights, Committee on the Judiciary, U.S. House of Representatives
In response to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the practices and procedures the International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) and the United States National Central Bureau (USNCB) employ in their efforts to combat world terrorism and safeguard U.S. citizens' privacy. GAO found that USNCB: (1) generally adhered to a Privacy Act provision requiring publication of the existence of its information system in the Federal Register; (2) usually provided INTERPOL members and local law enforcement agencies with information dealing with terrorist activities; and (3) has a strict policy of not releasing U.S. citizens' addresses and social security numbers. GAO also found that: (1) INTERPOL members generally share information on suspected criminals and counterterrorist activities through their respective national central bureaus; (2) of the 19 INTERPOL members it reviewed, only 7 were satisfied with the quality, relevance, and timeliness of the assistance they received from USNCB; and (3) several of the countries it surveyed also receive their information from other U.S. sources, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
United States. General Accounting Office
1987-06-25
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Terrorism: Laws Cited Imposing Sanctions on Nations Supporting Terrorism, Fact Sheet for the Honorable Franck R. Lautenberg, United States Senate
Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO determined how often and under what circumstances the United States invoked laws imposing sanctions on nations supporting terrorism. GAO found that: (1) since 1979, the Secretary of State has designated Iran, Libya, Syria, South Yemen, Cuba, and Iraq as countries that support or participate in terrorism, but he removed Iraq from the list in 1982; (2) the President and executive agencies cited a wide variety of laws and executive orders in imposing sanctions against listed countries; and (3) the types of sanctions imposed against listed countries included restriction or prohibition of trade or foreign military sales, restriction of oil and other imports, immigration restrictions against citizens of listed countries, severance of diplomatic relations, export controls or embargoes, asset seizure, travel limitations, and elimination of economic assistance.
United States. General Accounting Office
1987-04-17
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Strategic Defense Initiative Program: Controls Needed Over Construction and Operational Support Funds: Report to the Secretary of Defense
The objective of this report was to determine if adequate management controls were in place to identify, plan, review, approve, and notify the Congress of Strategic Defense Initiative Organization (SDIO)-funded construction projects. The report finds that (1) contrary to law, SDIO did not notify the Congress in advance of the expenditure of funds for a construction project that was not previously authorized, (2) contrary to a Department of Defense (DOD) directive, SDIO did not notify the Congress in advance of the expenditure of funds for a construction project at a contractor owned and operated facility undertaken with Research, Development, Test, and Evaluation (RDT&E) funds, and (3) agencies involved in SDI research used RDT&E funds for 'projects when Military Construction funds should have been used. This occurred because SDIO did not receive adequate or timely information about construction projects from the SDI research agencies.
United States. General Accounting Office
1986-07
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Military Airlift: Information on DoD's Chartering with Commercial Air Carriers, Briefing Report to Congressional Requesters
Pursuant to congressional requests to evaluate military commercial charter operations following a December 1985 crash, GAO assessed: (1) the Department of Defense's (DOD) policies and procedures to charter commercial aircraft; (2) DOD and Multinational Force and Observers (MFO) oversight procedures to monitor carrier performance; and (3) a DOD study of passenger airlift policies and procedures. GAO was also asked to obtain data on DOD and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) airport security evaluations and monitor and report on the investigation of the crash. GAO believes that there is a need for: (1) DOD to strengthen its contracting procedures to ensure that charter airlines and air-taxi operators follow flight quality and safety requirements; (2) DOD to improve its monitoring of charter and air taxi operators; (3) DOD and FAA to improve their communication so that each has access to necessary information; (4) DOD and FAA to coordinate their airport security evaluation programs; and (5) the State Department to encourage MFO to develop better contracting and monitoring procedures that stress flight safety. GAO concurred with the observations made by the DOD group that studied DOD air passenger travel and concluded that the study's recommendations would improve DOD commercial airlift operations.
United States. General Accounting Office
1986-06-12
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Further Actions Needed to Improve Emergency Preparedness Around Nuclear Powerplants
"Since the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, state and local emergency planning and preparedness around nuclear powerplants have improved considerably under the leadership of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. All 54 operating nuclear powerplant sites have state and local offsite emergency preparedness plans. FEMA has formally approved 24 of these plans, but it does not anticipate approving the remaining plans before September 1985 primarily because they do not fully comply with FEMA's criteria. Progress has also been made in developing a federal plan for responding to all radiological emergencies. However, the plan being developed does not fully address the need for centralized federal agency control and coordination which special inquiry groups identified after the Three Mile Island accident. Although considerable progress has been made, GAO [General Accounting Office] believes more can and should be done and makes several recommendations to improve preparedness for a nuclear powerplant accident. GAO also presents a matter for Congress to consider concerning the coordination of the federal response to a nuclear powerplant emergency."
United States. General Accounting Office
1984-08-01
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Federal Emergency Management Agency's Plan For Revitalizing U.S. Civil Defense: Review Of Three Major Plan Components
"In 1980, the Congress amended the Federal Civil Defense Act of 1950, stating that civil defense should be improved. To address this need, the Federal Emergency Management Agency in 1982 proposed a 7-year plan for revitalizing the National Civil Defense Program. The Subcommittee requested GAO to review three components of FEMA's 7-year plan, Nuclear Attack Civil Preparedness, Radiological Defense, and Direction and Control. GAO found that while FEMA has made some program improvements, civil defense generally continues to be characterized by inadequate funding and little interest at all levels of government. Also, some important civil defense systems comprising the components of FEMA's 7-year plan have numerous operational deficiencies. It is unclear whether state and local participation in nuclear attack related civil defense will be adequate to make FEMA's 7-year plan effective. This report discusses the status of the selected components of the 7-year plan, recommends actions for improvement, and presents issues for the Subcommittee's consideration."
United States. General Accounting Office
1984-04-16
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Additional Improvements Needed in Physical Security at Nuclear Powerplants: Report to the Chairman, Nuclear Regulatory Commission
Since the middle 1970's, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and powerplant operators have taken measures to reduce the vulnerability of powerplants to attempted acts of sabotage. The Atomic Energy Act of 1954 and the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974 directed NRC to regulate the physical security provided by its nuclear powerplant licensees. The NRC physical security objective for nuclear powerplants is to develop and require implementation of measures designed to prevent, deter, and respond to acts of radiological sabotage. Radiological sabotage is defined as a deliberate act of destruction, damage, or manipulation of vital equipment which could result in the release, beyond the plant boundary, of sufficient radioactive materials to endanger public health and safety due to radiation exposure. Therefore, physical security systems are primarily designed to prevent someone from destroying or tampering with safety-related equipment which could cause a release of radiation that would endanger public health and safety. NRC assures the adequacy of physical security systems at nuclear powerplants through its powerplant licensing and inspection programs. All licensees must have security plans that have been reviewed and approved by NRC headquarters before they can be licensed to operate a nuclear powerplant. After the security plan has been approved, NRC, through its inspection program, determines whether or not the licensee's implementing procedures will fulfill the commitments in the licensee's security plan.
Physical security is important because it is another measure, in addition to back-up safety systems, that assures the safe operations of a nuclear powerplant. A physical security system is intended to prevent intentional acts that could lead to the unsafe operation of a powerplant. Therefore, it is incumbent upon the NRC to assure that adequate physical security systems are installed at all operating nuclear powerplants because a serious act of radiological sabotage could have the same effect as a major accident at a nuclear powerplant. The importance of physical security at nuclear powerplants has been further demonstrated by the enactment of legislation that makes acts of sabotage against nuclear powerplants Federal crimes punishable by imprisonment or fines, or both.
United States. General Accounting Office
1983-07-13
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Management of The Federal Emergency Management Agency - A System Being Developed
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency was created in 1979 under authority of the Reorganization Act. Reorganization startup problems--such as delays in obtaining key agency officials, lack of office space, and insufficient staffing--troubled the new agency during the initial years of its existence. By 1981, management systems still had not been established to integrate top management, program office, and regional office operations. The FEMA Director was concerned about the lack of such systems. GAO [General Accounting Office] identified areas needing improvement in the agency's processes for formulating mission, goals, and objectives; its planning process; performance reporting; program evaluation; and the accounting, budgeting, personnel, procurement, and management information functions. Agency management has made substantial progress in correcting these problems. GAO makes several specific recommendations for further improvements."
United States. General Accounting Office
1983-01-06
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Emergency Management Assistance Program Should Contribute More Directly To National Civil Defense Objectives
"The objectives of our review were: to evaluate State procedures for administering EMA funds including procedures for making awards to local subgrantees and to determine whether FEMA established objectives for the EMA Program and what methods it uses to ensure recipients are accountable for meeting these objectives. Our review, which was conducted between July 1981 and February 1982, involved both extensive field work at State and local governments and an analysis of Federal policies and procedures at FEMA headquarters and regional offices. This audit was performed in accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards."
United States. General Accounting Office
1982-11-05
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Requests for Federal Disaster Assistance Need Better Evaluation
"Since 1970 the President's Disaster Relief Fund has provided over $3.8 billion to individuals and State and local governments. The Federal Emergency Management Agency, in assessing eligibility for disaster assistance, has had difficulty in determining whether State and local governments are capable of handling their own disasters and whether they are committing a reasonable amount of their available funds for disaster relief. GAO [General Accounting Office] also found that the Agency has adopted a controversial costsharing policy and has funded other than natural disasters. GAO recommends that the Congress clarify the extent of supplemental Federal assistance to be given and (2) what kinds of disasters are eligible for Federal assistance. The Federal Emergency Management Agency should analyze the impact potential State inequities have on Federal disaster assistance and submit a detailed plan and legislative changes to the Congress to correct such weaknesses."
United States. General Accounting Office
1981-12-07
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Proposed Changes in Federal Matching And Maintenance of Effort Requirements for State and Local Governments
"Federal matching and maintenance of effort requirements do not often effectively promote the Federal interest of enhancing the fiscal and management commitments of State and local governments to Federal programs. While more stringent Federal requirements would promote these Federal fiscal and managerial objectives, they would screen out needy grantees from participating in the program, thus jeopardizing the ability of the intergovernmental grant system to provide services of national interest on a nationwide basis. Also, by encumbering State and local funds in a growing number of federally funded areas, the requirements induce distortion of State and local budget priorities and may promote fiscal stress as well. GAO recommends that matching requirements be strengthened but used more sparingly and only where a clearly articulated Federal interest does not conflict with the broader purposes of Federal programs themselves. Maintenance of effort requirements serve a clear, primary Federal interest, but should be changed to more effectively prevent fiscal substitution while not penalizing bona fide State and local spending reductions."
United States. General Accounting Office
1980-12-23
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Report To The Congress by the Comptroller General of United States: The Public Diplomacy of Other Countries: Implications for the United States
From the Government Accountability Office website description of this report: "Public diplomacy, the international communications, cultural, and educational activities in which the public is involved, has become a principal instrument of foreign policy for the United States and other nations. By comparison with both allies and adversaries, the U.S. Government investment in public diplomacy is low. In absolute terms, the United States is outspent by France and the Soviet Union and is nearly equalled by West Germany. Despite differences of formal structure, both American and the Western European organizational arrangements for conducting public diplomacy provide for active governmental participation in a manner generally assuring appropriate professional and operating independence for such activities as news broadcasting, education, and cultural relations. At the same time the arrangements maintain a degree of official oversight and control sufficient to satisfy the legislatures that such activites are being carried out within a broad framework of national interests and objectives. Both models also tend to confirm that the cultural function and the policy articulation function need not and should not be administratively insulated from each other. A far sighted case can be made that wherever and whenever allied nations have a common message to deliver to third countries, common sense would dictate the use of common media. With few exceptions, however, efforts at cooperative public diplomacy have made little headway. Many officers of the U.S. International Communication Agency continue to spend significant amounts of personal funds in fulfilling official representational duties overseas. The continued shortfall places a personal burden on the conscientious overseas officer and inhibits optimum cultivation of valuable personal contacts."
United States. General Accounting Office
1979-07-23
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Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing: Who Wins the Lottery? Report by the Comptroller General of the United States
"Presently, most of the 114,000 onshore oil and gas leases for over 93 million acres of Federal land are awarded under a lottery system. The Chairman, House Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, requested that GAO review alleged irregularities in this leasing, administered by the Department of the Interior. GAO's review of drawings in New Mexico and Wyoming detected no indication of manipulation, but showed weaknesses in controls which allow the possibility for it. Basic changes, including possible alternatives to the system, are under study by the Interior."
United States. General Accounting Office
1979-04-13
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Need to Improve Regulatory Review Process for Liquefied Natural Gas Imports: Report to the Congress of the United States
"This report documents reasons for, and adverse impacts of, the lengthy regulatory review process involving liquefied natural gas import proposals. GAO [General Accounting Office] recommends that the Secretary of Energy analyze various alternative energy sources and natural gas substitutes. If it is determined that liquefied natural gas imports are necessary to supplement dwindling domestic gas supplies, the Secretary of Energy should streamline the existing regulatory review process."
United States. General Accounting Office
1978-07-14
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Evaluation of the National Energy Plan: Report to the Congress
"The President's National Energy Plan combines proposed legislative, administrative, and budgetary actions aimed at solving the Nation's energy problems. The Plan is an important first step toward developing a national energy policy. GAO [General Accounting Office] believes it is a good start. GAO agrees with many of the Plan's specific initiatives and offers recommendations to improve others. GAO believes that the Plan, even if approved in its entirety by the Congress, will, in some cases, fall short of its established goals. GAO calls for the Congress to adopt a set of National Energy Goals and design a program that meets these goals, establish a set of milestones to judge progress in meeting these goals, and establish a set of standby initiatives if satisfactory progress is not being made."
United States. General Accounting Office
1977-07-25
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Cost, Schedule, And Performance Problems Of The Lake Pontchartrain And Vicinity, Louisiana, Hurricane Protection Project
"The Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity, Louisiana, Hurricane Protection plan--a series of control structures, concrete floodwalls, and levees--is intended to protect the lowlands in the Lake Pontchartrain tidal basin, lying within the greater New Orleans metropolitan area, from flooding by hurricane-induced sea surges and rainfall. Its estimated cost has risen from $85 million in 1965 to $352 million and its completion has been delayed 13 years. Almost two-thirds of this increase is due to inflation. In spite of this, the project retains a benefit-to-cost ratio of about 13 to 1. The Federal share of the project cost (70 percent) has increased from $66 million to $242 million. There is a possibility that the Federal share could increase by $85 million more should local jurisdictions be unable to pay their portions."
United States. Government Accountability Office
1976-08-31
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Stronger Federal Assistance to States Needed for Radiation Emergency Response Planning, Report to the Congress by the Comptroller General of the United States
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission is the lead Federal agency in assisting States to voluntarily develop plans to cope with emergency radiation incidents at nuclear facilities, particularly powerplants, and accidents involving transportation of radioactive materials. This interagency effort has resulted in published guidelines and free formal training courses for State and local government officials responsible for radiation emergency response planning. As of December 1975, however, the Commission did not consider any State plan adequate to support the radiation emergency response planning guidelines developed by the Commission. GAO offers recommendations by which States can improve their radiation emergency response plans and keep the Congress better informed. This report concerns the need for stronger Federal assistance to States for radiation emergency response planning. The report discusses the status of State radiation emergency response plans and needed improvements in the Federal interagency effort to get State and local governments to improve their plans."
United States. General Accounting Office
1976-03-18
