Government Reports and Summaries

The Public Safety Officers’ Benefits (PSOB) program pays benefits to public safety officers or their families if the officers are permanently disabled or die in the line of duty. A second program may also pay benefits if the injury or death is related to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

A review of the DHS found it identified barriers to equal employment opportunities (EEO) and had plans to address them. For example, it investigated a higher-than-expected departure rate by white females. However, DHS lacks ways of measuring progress in eliminating these barriers.

The Government Accountability Office has identified 14 new information system security control deficiencies at the Internal Revenue Service. Eight of these deficiencies relate to access controls, four to configuration management, one to segregation of duties, and one to contingency planning.

During an ongoing audit of Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) storage of seized drugs at permanent drug vaults, the Office of the Inspector General determined that CBP does not adequately protect its staff from the dangers of powerful synthetic opioids such as fentanyl.

A July 16 GAO assessment says the plan does not provide estimates for the planned obligation of funds through 2027. It also does not include information on all its completed and planned life cycle cost estimates or how the projects under the plan will address the highest priority border security needs.

CBP officers stated that vehicle inspection technologies may not always function correctly and also complained of a lack of availability of non-intrusive inspection technology.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has taken steps to improve oversight of acquisition programs costing more than $300 million. But do acquisitions costing less than $300 million consequently receive less attention?

The Departments of Defense and Homeland Security have formed task forces to combat the flow of illicit drugs into the United States. A Government Accountability Office assessment of these task forces has found only one had measures to determine the effectiveness of its activities.