From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov Transcript for: Watchdog Report: GAO’s High Risk List – An Update to Congress Audio interview by GAO staff with U.S. Comptroller General Gene L. Dodaro Related GAO Work: GAO-11-278: High-Risk Series: An Update Released on: February 16, 2011 [ Background Music ] [ Narrator: ] Welcome to GAO's Watchdog Report, your source for news and information from the Government Accountability Office. It's February 16, 2011. GAO's high-risk list calls attention to the agencies and program areas that are vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement or are most in need of broad reform. The list is updated every 2 years, and GAO released the latest update this week. Gene Dodaro is the Comptroller General of the United States and head of the Government Accountability Office. GAO's Jeremy Cluchey sat down with Gene to learn more about the updated high-risk list. [Jeremy Cluchey:] One of the areas of work for which GAO is best known is the high-risk list. Can you talk a little bit about what this list is and how it came about? [Gene Dodaro:] Actually, the high-risk list started in 1990 with disclosures in certain areas, particularly in the housing and urban development area, of potential fraud, waste, and abuse and mismanagement in the federal government. Congress asked us to see if we could identify areas at risk before they became of crisis proportions. And so we developed the list then. Since then, in addition to areas at risk of fraud, waste, abuse, and mismanagement, we've added areas in need of broad-based transformation to make government more efficient and effective. We update the list every 2 years with the beginning of each new Congress in order to help the Congress set its oversight agenda. So it's one of the longest-running good-government bipartisan efforts, and it's really yielded good results. [Jeremy Cluchey:] This latest update includes the removal of two programs and the addition of another. The new addition to the list is the management of federal oil and gas resources. What prompted GAO to bring focus to this issue? [Gene Dodaro:] There are really several dimensions of this issue that were of concern to us. One, there were a number of weaknesses in the revenue collection activities of the Interior Department on royalties and other revenues that are owed the federal government because of leases on federal lands to produce oil and gas. This is one of the large revenue-producing items for the federal government and we don't feel the federal government's getting enough revenue based upon the weaknesses that we identified. Secondly, there have been a number of areas where we're concerned that the Interior Department does not have the necessary skills and talent and resources. There have been hiring and retention issues that need to be addressed in order to make sure they could adequately oversee federal activities and have proper oversight over managing oil and gas on federal lands. And lastly, Interior's undertaking a major reorganization, and we believe that the reorganization efforts are going to be challenging to the department to carry off because they're inherently challenging to have a big transformation like this. So all those factors combined cause us to place the area on the high-risk list. [Jeremy Cluchey:] What can you tell us about the two issues that are coming off the list, the 2010 Census and the Defense Department's Personnel Security Clearance Program? [Gene Dodaro:] Both of those areas have clearly demonstrated enough progress for us to remove them from the list. In the Defense Department Personnel Security Clearance Program, there's been clear progress in a number of fronts. First, they were able to dramatically reduce the amount of time to process an initial security clearance. Additionally, they were able to come up with quality standards and metrics to be able to make sure that they not only produce security clearances on a timely basis, but that they're good quality. And they also have set adjudication standards, which are very important, to make sure that people's rights are protected going through the clearance process. Now, with regard to the 2010 Census, we are removing it from our high-risk list because the Bureau has generally completed its peak census data collection activities consistent with its operational plans. They released the state population counts used to apportion Congress on December 21, several days ahead of the legally mandated end-of-the-year deadline, and remaining activities appear to be on track. Now, that doesn't mean that attention should not be turned to planning a much more cost-effective Census for 2020. And so we'll be monitoring the Bureau's plans very carefully in that regard. [Jeremy Clutchey:] Obviously, it would be ideal for the high-risk list to dwindle down over time. And you said during your confirmation hearing that helping to move issues off this list would be a priority. How do you plan to accomplish that? [Gene Dodaro:] Well, there are several facets that will be important to ensuring progress. One, you need to keep elevated attention on these matters, both with having strong congressional oversight, sustained attention of top agency managers within the departments and agencies, and OMB’s committed at the deputy director for management-level of continuing to have meetings with the agencies and GAO to monitor progress over time. And so, elevating and sustaining attention at the top levels of government is pivotal. If these high-risk areas are resolved, there's billions of dollars that could be saved, better service to the public, and government will operate much more efficiently and effectively for the benefit of the American people. [Narrator:] To learn more, visit GAO's Web site at GAO.gov and be sure to tune in to the next edition of GAO's Watchdog Report for more from the congressional watchdog, the Government Accountability Office.