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Defense Budget: Tracking of Emergency Response Funds for the War on Terrorism

GAO-03-346 Published: Apr 30, 2003. Publicly Released: Apr 30, 2003.
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Highlights

As of January 2003, Congress had provided a total of $38 billion to the Department of Defense (DOD) to cover emergency response costs related to the war on terrorism. Appropriated in different ways in fiscal years 2001, 2002, and 2003, these funds are meant to pay for expenses that DOD would not normally incur, such as contingency military operations and Pentagon building repairs. Because our prior work raised questions about DOD's oversight of contingency fund spending, GAO was asked to review DOD's management of emergency response funds, specifically: (1) DOD's adherence to OMB guidance in managing funds and the sufficiency of DOD's guidance on the use of these funds, and (2) DOD's ability to track the use of emergency response funds in general. We limited our review of DOD's guidance to the initial funds placed in the Defense Emergency Response Fund. We did not verify the accuracy of the data contained in DOD's obligation reports or the appropriateness of individual expenditures.

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AccountingAppropriated fundsContingency operationsCost of warCounterterrorismDefense appropriationsDefense contingency planningNational defense operationsEmergency preparednessEmergency responseEmergency response fundsFederal fundsFinancial managementFunds managementInternal controls