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New GAO Reports – Aviation Security, Missouri River Basin

  • Aviation Security: TSA Has Taken Steps to Improve Oversight of Key Programs, but Additional Actions Are Needed, GAO-15-678T: Published: Jun 9, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 9, 2015: “The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has taken steps to improve oversight of Secure Flight—a passenger prescreening program that matches passenger information against watch lists and assigns each passenger a risk category—but could take further action to address screening errors. In September 2014, GAO reported that TSA lacked timely and reliable information on system matching errors—instances where Secure Flight did not identify passengers who were actual matches to watch lists. GAO recommended that TSA systematically document such errors to help TSA determine if actions can be taken to prevent similar errors from occurring. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) concurred and has developed a mechanism to do so, but has not yet shown how it will use this information to improve system performance. In September 2014, GAO also found that screening personnel made errors in screening passengers at the checkpoint at a level consistent with their Secure Flight risk determinations and that TSA did not have a systematic process for evaluating the root causes of these errors across airports. GAO recommended that TSA develop a process for evaluating the root causes and implement corrective measures to address them. DHS concurred and has developed such a process but has not yet demonstrated implementation of corrective measures.”
  • Missouri River Basin: Agencies’ Progress Improving Water Monitoring Is Limited, GAO-15-558R: Published: Jun 9, 2015. Publicly Released: Jun 9, 2015: “Federal agencies have made limited progress implementing recommendations to improve snowpack and soil moisture monitoring outlined in a February 2013 interagency report. According to officials from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Corps), although it has not established a time frame for doing so, the Corps plans to develop a document that will describe the mandate from the Water Resources Reform and Development Act (WRRDA) that directs implementation of the February 2013 recommendations. Within this document, the Corps plans to include an assessment of whether it is more appropriate for the Corps or other federal agencies to implement the mandate and to describe the priority the Corps has assigned to this effort with respect to its other programs. Corps officials plan to make the document publicly available. Officials from the four other federal agencies identified in the WRRDA–namely the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), United States Geological Survey (USGS), and Bureau of Reclamation (BoR)–told GAO that they had not taken actions to implement the recommendations in the February 2013 report. Officials from NOAA and NRCS also told GAO that they are waiting for the Corps’ decision as to whether it intends to undertake the lead agency role before making any further decisions about what role their agencies would have in implementing the recommendations.”

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