This report addresses the major performance and accountability challenges facing the Department of Labor as it seeks to promote the welfare and economic security of the nations work force and ensure that workplaces are safe and healthy. It includes a summary of actions that Labor has under way to address these challenges and outlines further actions that GAO believes are needed. This analysis should help the new Congress and administration carry out their responsibilities and improve government for the benefit of the American people.

Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Departments of Defense, State, and Veterans Affairs

T-NSIAD/HEHS/AIMD-99-104 Major Management Challenges and Program Risks: Departments of Defense, State, and Veterans Affairs

Drawing on GAO's high risk series (GAO-01-241 to GAO-01-263), this testimony discusses major government programs prone to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. This testimony focuses on (1) the range of governmentwide challenges and opportunities the 107th Congress and the new administration face to enhance performance and accountability of the federal government, (2) the major management challenges and program risks facing three key agencies--the Departments of Defense, State, and Veterans Affairs, and (3) whether these departments are meeting performance and accountability goals and measurements that are required under the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is an independent agency that works for Congress. The GAO watches over Congress, and investigates how the federal government spends taxpayers dollars. The Comptroller General of the United States is the leader of the GAO, and is appointed to a 15-year term by the U.S. President. The GAO wants to support Congress, while at the same time doing right by the citizens of the United States. They audit, investigate, perform analyses, issue legal decisions and report anything that the government is doing. This is one of their reports.