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.

Federal agencies often receive advice from advisory committees, and there were 963 committees governmentwide in FY1997 established for this purpose. Federal advisory committees (FAC) are to be established and to operate in accordance with requirements of the Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA). Congress is currently exploring possible improvements to FACA, and this report addresses certain questions about FAC's and FACA requirements. Most respondents to the study's questionnaire conveyed a generally shared perception that advisory committees were providing balanced and independent advice and recommendations.

FAC, which may also be designated as commissions, councils, or task forces ¿ are created as provisional advisory bodies that can circumvent bureaucratic constraints to collect a variety of viewpoints on specific policy issues. FAC have been created to address a host of issues, ranging from policies on organ donation to the design and implementation of the Dept. of Homeland Security. These FAC are often created to help the gov¿t. manage and solve complex or divisive issues. Contents of this report: (1) Intro.: History; The Dept. of Justice; Congress. Action; The Pres. and the Exec. Branch; Congress. Reaction; (2) The Fed. Advisory Committee Act (FACA); (3) Creating a FACA Committee; (4) Analysis. This is a print on demand report.