Government Accountability Office

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

Suspect accounting makes tracking funds nearly impossible: GAO report

(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—...

Tough Calls Await on Boeing Defense Bid

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

(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...

Bill's Bills Cost US a Record $8M

Clinton costs twice as much as Carter

(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...

Workers Charge Laptops to Lingerie on Fed Credit Cards

Audit: Nearly half of purchases broke rules

(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...

Pentagon Big Guns Late, Way Over Budget

Overruns hit $295B, says GAO report

(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...

Patients' Info Swiped Along With Laptop

Unencrypted data on 2,500 government study subjects missing

(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...

Congress Will Nix Airbus Deal, Boeing Says

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

(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....

Boeing to Appeal $40B Contract
Boeing to Appeal $40B Contract
Mar 10, 2008 8:09 PM CDT

Boeing to Appeal $40B Contract

CEO claims 'serious flaws' in bidding

(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...

Air Force Picks Foreign Bid to Build Tankers

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

(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 called...

FDA Approved Wrong China Firm
FDA Approved Wrong China Firm
Feb 19, 2008 6:26 AM CST

FDA Approved Wrong China Firm

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

(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...

Iran Sanctions Might Not be Working: GAO

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

(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...

Feds Ease TV Switch With Coupons
Feds Ease TV Switch With Coupons
Jan 2, 2008 3:13 PM CST

Feds Ease TV Switch With Coupons

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

(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...

Panel Rips Army Fraud 'Crisis'
Panel Rips Army Fraud 'Crisis'
Nov 1, 2007 4:51 AM CDT

Panel Rips Army Fraud 'Crisis'

Raps military on wasted contract billions

(Newser) - The Army is under fire for failing to train enough officers to supervise billions of dollars in contracts and allowing waste and fraud to flourish, reports the New York Times.  The problems have "created a crisis," according to an independent six-member panel appointed by Army Secretary Pete...

Feds Fly 1st Class on Your Dime
Feds Fly 1st Class on Your Dime
Oct 3, 2007 9:29 AM CDT

Feds Fly 1st Class on Your Dime

$146M wasted in premium travel

(Newser) - Federal employees wasted $146 million in a single year flying business or first class, according to a government investigation. Some 67% of premium-class travel is unauthorized or unnecessary, and the biggest abusers are Pentagon, Justice and State Department officials, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office.

Iraqi Police Force Should Be 'Scrapped'

Infighting, corruption force recommendation that US 'start over'

(Newser) - Corruption and sectarian biases are so deeply entrenched in the Iraqi police ranks that the force's structure must be “scrapped,” an independent panel will report to Congress next week. The recommendation stems from an examination of the 26,000-member police force that concludes “we should start over,...

GAO Warns of Decline & Fall .... of America

US problems are the same that destroyed Roman Empire, chief declares

(Newser) - America's dire state resembles that of the Rome just before its fall, the head of the General Accountability Office has warned in a grim new report. "Declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military, and fiscal irresponsibility," could lead to disaster here at...

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