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SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2009
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NEWS ABOUT: Government Accountability Office

Government Accountability Office stories: 24 news summaries

1 - 20 of 24 Stories | 1 2 Next >>

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 Swine Flu-Wary 
 Telecommuters 
 Could Floor Internet 

Report finds surge in demand might make telecommuting unfeasible

Oct 28, 09 6:06 AM CDT
(Newser) - Telecommuters hunkering down at home because of swine flu could overwhelm Internet networks in the coming weeks, a federal watchdog reports. The report earlier this week found that no guidelines are in place to deal with any surge in demand caused by a spike in workers telecommuting and students going... More »

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Internet • Department of Homeland Security • Government Accountability Office • telecommunications • Internet service providers • pandemic • telecommuting • swine flu • H1N1 virus

mortgage meltdown

 Sleazy Middlemen 
 Stiff Homeowners 
 Trying to Refi 

Foot-dragging 'mortgage servicers' step into role of fox in henhouse

Oct 4, 09 3:31 PM CDT
(Newser) - The federal mortgage modification program is mired in trouble, with just 12% of the 3 million eligible loans in the process of modification, the "servicers" that helped create the problem tasked with helping to untangle it, and the Treasury Department falling down on the oversight job. In one... More »

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Iowa • North Carolina • mortgage • Treasury Department • GAO • Government Accountability Office • refinanced mortgages • TARP • mortgage modification • CitiFinancial • Home Affordable Modification Program

(Newser) - Anybody seen $700 billion? The government watchdogs charged with overseeing TARP spending don't seem able to answer even basic questions about where the money went, Chris Adams writes at McClatchy. A special inspector general, a congressional panel, and eight other inspectors general are supposed to be keeping track of the... More »

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Henry Paulson • watchdog • Treasury Department • Government Accountability Office • bailout • Troubled Asset Relief Program • Wall Street bailout • Timothy Geithner • TARP • Neil Barofsky

(Newser) - The Government Accountability Office has put the struggling US Postal Service on its list of “high-risk” federal programs, the Hill reports. The federal watchdog says the USPS will lose $7 billion this year, and that even the end of the recession will not return business that has migrated to... More »

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Congress • mail • deficit • Government Accountability Office • USPS • Federal government • US Postal Service

(Newser) - A Homeland Security plan to build a $700 million lab handling highly infectious animal diseases in Kansas' 'Tornado Alley' probably isn't the best idea it's had, the Washington Post reports. A withering report from the Government Accountability Office found that the DHS based its decision on a flawed, hastily done... More »

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tornado • Kansas • Department of Homeland Security • foot and mouth disease • GAO • Government Accountability Office

Grave Lack of Security at Fed Buildings: GAO

Agents snuck in bomb parts, assembled them in restrooms

Jul 8, 09 3:05 PM CDT
(Newser) - A covert investigation shows the nation’s federal buildings are woefully under-protected from potential terrorist attacks, CNN reports. Undercover agents were able to sneak bomb components through security into each of the 10 federal buildings—occupied by the Homeland Security, Justice, and State departments—they tested, assemble explosive devices in... More »

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Congress • terrorism • IED • bomb • Department of Homeland Security • GAO • Government Accountability Office • federal building • Federal Protective Service • improvised explosive device

(Newser) - A US passport is easy to obtain using fake or fraudulent documents, even with extensive post-9/11 security reforms, the AP reports. At the request of a Senate committee, a government investigator went undercover and quickly obtained multiple passports, using the identities of a dead man, a 5-year-old, and two fictitious... More »

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Senate Judiciary Committee • State Department • Dianne Feinstein • United States • Jon Kyl • identity theft • Government Accountability Office • passport • identification • passport fraud

Surveillance Plan Moves Forward, Despite Concerns

Homeland Security program would allow local government to access spy photos

Oct 1, 08 10:42 AM CDT
(Newser) - A Government Accountability Office review raises concerns about plans for domestic satellite surveillance, the Wall Street Journal reports, but Homeland Security will proceed anyway. A bill allows the agency to provide satellite imagery for emergency and scientific purposes, but could be expanded to include surveillance and border control. The... More »

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Congress • privacy • Department of Homeland Security • Government Accountability Office • satellite images • reconnaissance satellite

US Can't Be Sure Pakistan's $5.6B Went to Fight Terror

Suspect accounting makes tracking funds nearly impossible: GAO report

Jun 25, 08 12:28 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Defense Department cannot show that nearly $6 billion the US has sent to Pakistan since 2001 has been used, as intended, to fight terrorism. In a report yesterday, the Government Accountability Office said the Pentagon hadn’t properly tracked the funds, CNN reports, blindly signing off on questionable charges—... More »

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Taliban • Pakistan • Department of Defense • Government Accountability Office • US military aid • Coalition Support Funds • al-Qaeda

Tough Calls Await on Boeing Defense Bid

CEO can fold if feds deny appeal on tanker, or ramp up lobbying

Jun 12, 08 3:24 PM CDT
(Newser) - The Government Accountability Office must rule by next Thursday on Boeing’s appeal of an Air Force deal granting European rival Airbus a multi-billion dollar tanker contract—and CEO Jim McNerney has a tough call ahead if Boeing loses, the Seattle Times reports. He can ground the appeal, or draw... More »

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Boeing • Air Force • Airbus • refueling • Government Accountability Office • contract • tanker aircraft • Jim McNerney • Boeing 767 • Airbus A330

 Bill's Bills Cost US
a Record $8M 

Clinton costs twice as much as Carter

Apr 11, 08 4:37 AM CDT
(Newser) - Bill Clinton is costing taxpayers significantly more in publicly funded perks than the two other surviving former presidents, reports Politico. From 2001 through the end of this year, $8 million will be spent on Bill Clinton, compared with $5.5 million for George H. W. Bush and $4 million for... More »

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Jimmy Carter • Secret Service • Bill Clinton • Ronald Reagan • George HW Bush • Government Accountability Office • taxpayer money • Harry Truman • taxpayers • former presidents • retirement benefits • National Taxpayers Union • Congressional Research Service • Former Presidents Act

Workers Charge Laptops to Lingerie on Fed Credit Cards 

Audit: Nearly half of purchases broke rules

Apr 9, 08 8:50 AM CDT
(Newser) - Millions of dollars government employees charged to federal credit cards went for less-than-appropriate perks ranging from digital cameras to dating services, sexy lingerie, laptops, and a $13,000 postal party, reports the Washington Post. An investigation by the Government Accountability Office found that 48% of major purchases on federal credit... More »

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State Department • Department of Homeland Security • Department of Defense • Norm Coleman • Government Accountability Office • USPS • Department of Agriculture • purchase cards • Forest Service • Debra K. Durfey • Office of Management and Budget • Government Credit Card Abuse Prevention Act

 Pentagon Big Guns Late,
 Way Over Budget 

Overruns hit $295B, says GAO report

Apr 1, 08 12:46 PM CDT
(Newser) - Some 95 of the Pentagon's biggest weapons systems are a total of $295 billion over budget and arrive an average of 2 years late, according to the Government Accountability Office. But GAO auditors say the Pentagon is getting sloppier, not better, reports the Washington Post. "It's taking longer and... More »

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Pentagon • Lockheed Martin • Government Accountability Office • Future Combat Systems • Pentagon waste • new weapons systems • Littoral Combat Ship • Joint Strike Fighter

Patients' Info Swiped Along With Laptop

Unencrypted data on 2,500 government study subjects missing

Mar 25, 08 3:57 PM CDT
(Newser) - A government laptop loaded with personal medical info on thousands of patients just “fell through the cracks,” a top exec with an NIH subsidiary says. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute machine was stolen Feb. 23, apparently at random, from an employee’s car trunk. None of... More »

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identity theft • Government Accountability Office • laptop • computer security • encryption • medical records • National Institutes of Health • private data • breach of security • National Heart, Lung & Blood Institute

Congress Will
Nix Airbus Deal,
Boeing Says

US firm blasts 'unfair' award of Air Force contract to Europeans

Mar 19, 08 6:44 AM CDT
(Newser) - Boeing isn't taking its loss of a $35 billion military contract to Northrop Grumman and Airbus lying down, Reuters reports. A company vice president said he was "as confident as he could be" that Congress would overturn the Air Force's decision to buy refueling tankers from Boeing's European rival.... More »

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Pentagon • Boeing • contracts • Air Force • Airbus • Northrop Grumman • aircraft • Government Accountability Office • US Air Force

Boeing to Appeal $40B Contract

CEO claims 'serious flaws' in bidding

Mar 10, 08 8:09 PM CDT
(Newser) - Boeing vowed today to appeal a controversial $40 billion contract to build refueling tankers for the Air Force, the Wall Street Journal reports. "Our team has taken a very close look at the tanker decision and found serious flaws in the process," Boeing CEO Jim McNerney said. The... More »

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Boeing • Air Force • contractors • Airbus • Government Accountability Office • EADS • Military-Industrial Complex

Air Force Picks Foreign
Bid to Build Tankers

Northrop Grumman and Airbus will build $40B fleet in France

Feb 29, 08 9:49 PM CST
(Newser) - The Air Force shocked observers yesterday by handing a $40 billion contract to build aerial refueling tankers to a foreign company, the Los Angeles Times reports. Northrop Grumman and Airbus—which plan to build the 179 tankers in France—beat out Washington state's Boeing. Outraged lawmakers from Washington state... More »

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John McCain • California • Pentagon • Boeing • France • Airbus • Northrop Grumman • Kansas • Alabama • Washington state • Government Accountability Office • US Air Force • Made in America

FDA Approved Wrong China Firm

Hundreds ill, 4 dead after using heparin from factory never inspected

Feb 19, 08 6:26 AM CST
(Newser) - The Chinese facility that supplied the active ingredient of the blood-thinner heparin, linked to hundreds of adverse reactions and four US deaths, was never inspected by the FDA because the agency confused it with another plant of the same name, the Washington Post reports. The company was given approval based... More »

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China • FDA • blood pressure • Government Accountability Office • inspection • House Energy and Commerce Committee • John Dingell • pharmaceutical industry • Heparin • Baxter International • blood thinner • Changzhou • Joseph Famulare • drug manufacturer • Andrew von Eschenbach

Iran Sanctions Might Not be Working: GAO

With $20B in energy contracts, economic pressure easy to dodge

Jan 16, 08 3:01 PM CST
(Newser) - Sanctioning Iran may not have actually worked, the Government Accountability Office said yesterday, just as the US pushes for a fresh round of UN sanctions. Restrictions on state-owned banks are easy to circumvent, the report notes, and Iran has signed $20 billion in energy contracts since 2003. The “evidence... More »

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Iran • Middle East • economic sanctions • Government Accountability Office • UN sanctions • energy contracts • George W. Bush

Feds Ease TV Switch With Coupons

Money will help those who still use antennas upgrade to digital before '09

Jan 2, 08 3:13 PM CST
(Newser) - For the estimated 14.3 million households still getting their TV via antenna, there’s hope: The federal government yesterday began handing out $40 coupons to help buy converters ahead of the 2009 digital cutoff, the AP reports. The problem, Congress says, is that few know about the $1.5... More »

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FCC • Government Accountability Office • digital television • digital broadcasting • TV antenna

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