Reports & Testimonies

The Department of Defense is working to help military commanders better analyze and share information in real time. This complex effort is not a singular system and depends on contributions by all military services. Six years in, the military services are pursuing projects largely in isolation and without clear goals. This approach will likely result in delivering capability much more slowly and inefficiently, if at...

While serving their country, military service members make decisions that affect their financial security. Some choices—like whether to pay down debt—can affect them now. Others—like saving for retirement—can affect them in the future. The Department of Defense and the military services provide training and resources to help service members understand these and other financial topics. DOD and the military services don't know how many service...

Scammers manipulate victims into sending them money. These scams may be costing Americans billions of dollars annually. For example, based on banking data filed in 2021, Treasury estimated $200 billion in impersonation-related suspicious activity. That's when a scammer impersonates someone else—like a potential romantic partner or employer, or a customer service representative—to get money. There is no government-wide estimate of the money lost to scams...

This Q&A looks at how states use federal funds to address child abuse and neglect. In FY 2015-2022, states spent $23.5 billion on child welfare from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, a grant that helps families with lower incomes. During that time, states also spent $68.6 billion from Title IV-E of the Social Security Act, which funds foster care and other family services. This is...

The federal government struggles to manage a vast real estate portfolio. Problems identifying and letting go of unneeded property, keeping up maintenance and security, and more has put this issue on our High Risk List since 2003. We testified before the House Oversight's Subcommittee on Delivering Government Efficiency on findings from our recent work. For example: Maintenance and repair backlogs have more than doubled to...

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families block grant provides money and services such as job training to people in financial need. We testified about recommendations from our prior reports to improve how the Department of Health and Human Services oversees TANF. For example, HHS could: Find ways to improve states' reporting on TANF expenditures Find ways to help states resolve problems found in TANF audits...

U.S. Border Patrol's Missing Migrant Program helps rescue migrants in distress and recover and identify human remains along U.S. borders. Border Patrol collects data on program activities, such as migrant rescues and deaths, and submits it in annual reports to Congress. However, Border Patrol hasn't developed an approach for evaluating the program that includes research questions and methods. So, it may not be collecting all...

States get $16.5 billion a year in federal funding for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. States must audit their use of these funds and report the results to the Department of Health and Human Services. Recent audits found 162 deficiencies—56 of which were severe. For example, auditors found a state that didn't report required information for grants it gave with federal funds. 105...

This Q&A report examines how the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Homeland Security Investigations agencies coordinate on drug investigations. We found: DEA authorized an average of over 4,000 HSI agents per year to participate in drug investigations in FY 2019-2023 DEA doesn't track the time it takes to process HSI agent requests to participate in drug investigations DEA and HSI haven't implemented the agent training...

The Department of Defense relies on its civilian employees and contractors in Japan and Guam to provide services such as engineering, food service, and teaching. They may receive health care at military facilities but only on a space-available basis—after active-duty service members and their families. Accessing health care through local providers can be difficult. For example, in Japan, they face language barriers and must pay...

The Medical Reserve Corps provides volunteer medical and other services to communities in times of emergency. Health and Human Services—the leader of the nation's public health emergency response—oversees, supports, and relies on information from the Medical Reserve Corps about numbers and locations of available volunteers. However, we found that data on the number of Medical Reserve Corps' volunteers was not always up to date, and...

Federal police forces play a role in protecting federal property, employees, and visitors. Their work environment and duties have changed recently due to increased threats, staffing shortages, and more—raising questions about whether their pay and retirement should change. Federal police officers are not considered federal law enforcement officers for the purposes of pay and retirement benefits. Their retirement benefits accrue at a lower rate than...

To make lobbying the federal government more transparent, paid lobbyists and firms must: Register with Congress File quarterly reports on who lobbied and what they did File semiannual reports on political contributions As in past years, we found that most registered lobbyists filed reports, but some reports were inaccurate. For example, 21% of quarterly reports listed lobbyists who didn't fully disclose their relevant prior federal...

In 2023, the State Department's processing of passport applications took weeks longer than usual. As a result, some people had to change or cancel travel plans. Causes of the delays included a record number of applications as well as staff shortages stemming from a 2017 hiring freeze. To resolve the backlog, State required passport staff to work up to 24 hours of overtime per month...

According to the Small Business Administration, minorities, women, tribal, and other communities have faced barriers to accessing grants, loans, and training to start and grow businesses. In 2021, SBA launched the Community Navigator Pilot Program, partnering with local organizations to broaden access to these resources. SBA data suggests the program served a higher proportion of these groups compared to other SBA business assistance programs. But...

The Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs has received billions in funding in recent years to keep Americans safe by protecting the border and countering crime, illegal drugs, and instability abroad. This testimony discusses our prior work, such as challenges the bureau faced in determining the effectiveness of assistance it provides in foreign countries. For example, we found that the bureau was unable...

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute is a federally funded, nonprofit corporation. It was established to fund and evaluate research aimed at helping patients, doctors, and policymakers make better health care decisions. This institute is required to have its financial statements audited annually, and we're required to review those audits. The institute's auditor issued an unmodified (clean) opinion on its FY 2024 financial statements, concluding that...

U.S. and foreign banking regulators work together to develop international capital standards for large banks through the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision. The Committee issued final Basel III standards in 2017 and 2019. U.S. regulators and the Committee aimed to limit variability in the way banks calculate risks under the capital standards to produce more comparable measures. U.S. regulators also aimed to better align the...

Some federal grant recipients pass some of their award funding to subrecipients. However, there have been issues with the completeness and accuracy of information about these subawards. This can make it challenging to track where subaward funds are ultimately spent. While grant recipients are responsible for overseeing their subawards, federal agencies must ensure that they are effectively doing so. This includes reviewing audit findings and...

We testified that the Navy hasn't increased the number of ships in its fleet over the past 20 years—despite nearly doubling its shipbuilding budget. Its acquisition practices consistently result in growing costs and delivery delays. For example, the Navy's frigate program began construction before completing ship design and expects the first ship to deliver at least 3 years late. As adversary threats grow, the Navy...