The Lacuna Project

lacuna (n.) a gap in a record where something should be

Independent research. Not affiliated with any government, agency, or company.

Agency

U.S. Government Accountability Office

Findings that rest on exhibits naming this entity

  • AGR-1.4: GAO reported in 2010 that FDA reviews only the GRAS determinations companies submit, generally has no information about the others, and cannot estimate how many it was not told of. GAO also found that FDA had issued no conflict-of-interest guidance for the expert panels companies convene and did not ask for information on panelists' independence in GRAS notices.
  • DEF-1.4: Congress required contractors to submit and certify cost or pricing data for negotiated prime contracts expected to exceed $100,000 in 1962. Section 811 of the FY2018 National Defense Authorization Act raised the threshold for contracts awarded on or after 1 July 2018. GAO gives the new figure as $2 million, and the current FAR provision states $2.5 million. GAO reported in 2022 that DoD and NASA had not formally analyzed the effect of the increase.
  • DEF-1.6: GAO's July 2026 weapon systems assessment found that 46 of 72 major defense acquisition programs with cost data reported cost increases totaling $122.08 billion, and that the average time to deliver a capability rose to over 12 years.
  • DEF-1.7: DoD estimates the F-35 will cost over $2 trillion to buy, operate and sustain, including about $1.58 trillion for sustainment, which rose 44 percent from 2018 to 2023. GAO reported in 2026 that the F-35 mission capable rate fell from 67 to 44 percent between fiscal years 2021 and 2025.
  • DEF-1.8: DoD's April 2023 Contract Finance Study found that defense contractors outperformed commercial counterparts on 8 of 9 key financial metrics while profit margins were somewhat lower, and that cash paid to shareholders rose 73 percent in 2010-2019 compared with 2000-2009 while the share of spending on independent research and development declined.
  • INF-1.7: GAO reported in November 2006 that direct-to-consumer spending was $4.2 billion in 2005, that FDA reviews a small portion of such materials, and that regulatory letters took an average of 4 months to issue in 2002-2005 against 2 weeks in 1997-2001. By the time the 19 letters of 2004-2005 were issued, companies had stopped using more than half of the cited materials.
  • INF-2.8: Congress appropriated $1.225 billion for the Office of National Drug Control Policy's youth anti-drug media campaign for fiscal years 1998 through 2004, and GAO reported in 2006 that "the evaluation provides credible evidence that the campaign was not effective in reducing youth drug use."
  • INF-2.12: GAO found in B-229069 on 30 September 1987 that the State Department's Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean arranged articles presented as the work of persons not associated with the government, that they "were misleading as to their origin," and that they violated the publicity-or-propaganda restriction.
  • AGR-3.2: From 2003 through 2011 USDA paid more than $46 billion in direct payments based on historical acreage and production, and $10.6 billion of it went to producers who did not grow the associated crop in the payment year.
  • AGR-3.3: GAO reported that federal crop insurance premium subsidies in 2022 totaled $12 billion, averaged about 62 percent of premiums, and were set by Congress regardless of income. RMA’s table for crop year 2024 shows $8.89 billion, 63 percent of premiums.
  • AGR-3.4: In 2022 the government paid private insurance companies about $3.7 billion to deliver crop insurance, and from 2011 through 2022 their return on retained premiums averaged 16.8 percent against a market-based 10.2 percent.
  • AGR-3.6: ERS reports that farms with at least $1 million in gross cash farm income received nearly 11 percent of commodity program payments in 1991 and 34 percent in 2015, and describes the shift as similar to the shift in production value.
  • AGR-3.7: Crop insurance premium subsidies and indemnities have no payment limit and sit outside the actively engaged in farming test. For the programs that apply the test, GAO reported in 2004, 2013 and 2020 that the management standard is broad and that FSA’s compliance reviews were late or not monitored.
  • AGR-3.9: In 2019 the Market Facilitation Program paid specialty crops about 2 percent and nonspecialty crops about 94 percent of $14.4 billion. USDA’s 2025 Farmer Bridge Assistance program is $11 billion with $1 billion more available, and its program for specialty crops that the first did not cover is $1.625 billion.
  • AGR-3.10: USDA distributed over $23 billion in Market Facilitation Program payments for 2018 and 2019 to more than 715,000 producers. GAO estimated that 2019 payments to corn producers were about $3 billion more than USDA’s own estimate of trade damage to corn.
  • AGR-3.11: FSA paid $163.4 million of Market Facilitation Program payments to 883 high-income farms and 1,164 farmers with adjusted gross incomes over $900,000, and discontinued its 2019 compliance review. USDA’s inspector general estimated that FSA overpaid 150,313 producers by a total of more than $57.2 million, about 0.25 percent of the $23.18 billion paid.
  • AGR-3.16: No public USDA or GAO tabulation combines direct payments, crop insurance premium subsidies, indemnities and ad hoc aid by recipient decile or by crop group.
  • DEF-3.1: The DoD Inspector General issued a disclaimer of opinion on the department-wide financial statements in each of fiscal years 2018 through 2025, eight years in a row. GAO reports that DoD is the only one of the 24 Chief Financial Officers Act agencies that has never obtained a clean opinion.
  • DEF-3.4: In fiscal year 2025 the DoD Inspector General reported opinions on 21 reporting entities: 11 clean, 1 qualified and 9 disclaimers, up from 5 clean opinions among 21 entities in fiscal year 2018. The Congressional Research Service reports that the entities with disclaimers account for 43 percent of DoD assets.
  • DEF-3.8: GAO could not locate 18 of 96 sampled Air Force equipment items at the Reliance Test & Technology facility at Eglin Air Force Base; in the report body's generalizable sample at that facility the count was 14 of 58. GAO could not locate 58 of 104 sampled items at a second contractor, Standard Aero.
  • DEF-3.9: The Defense Department reports progress in its own audit record: the Marine Corps has received a clean opinion since fiscal year 2023, the FY2025 audit report records 121 entity-level material weaknesses and 2,485 notices of findings, which it describes as 427 fewer, and GAO counts one of 17 scope-limiting weaknesses as resolved.
  • AGR-4.13: No GAO report in the record evaluates the selection or conflict-of-interest process for the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. GAO-24-106130 covers coordination of interagency nutrition research.
  • DEF-4.3: In 2008 the Government Accountability Office reported that 52 major defense contractors employed 2,435 former Defense Department senior and acquisition officials in 2006, and that seven of the firms employed 1,581 of them. The contractors' own data showed 1,263, and GAO described its IRS-based figure as almost twice as many.
  • DEF-4.4: In 2021 GAO reported that 14 major contractors employed 1,718 former Defense Department senior and acquisition officials in 2019. The ten contractors that supplied data reported 816 such officials where GAO's DoD and IRS data identified 1,149, and GAO could not reconcile the difference.
  • DEF-4.5: The DoD Inspector General concluded in 2014 that the Department's database of section 847 ethics opinions was "of marginal value" as a management control system. In 2021 GAO recommended that DoD assess adding the lobbying prohibitions to its acquisition regulation, and DoD concurred.
  • POL-4.14: GAO reported in April 2013 that no law or ethics rule specifically governs the sale of political intelligence, that its prevalence is not known and is hard to quantify, and that materiality and timing are hard to determine.
  • AGR-5.2: USDA's Economic Research Service attributes the rise in beef and pork packing concentration mostly to larger plants and says mergers played a limited role. ERS also reports that the farm-to-wholesale beef price spread doubled between 2015 and 2019. GAO estimated that fed cattle prices in 2013 to 2015 may have been about 9 percent higher in areas with less packer concentration than in areas with more, and stated that this evidence alone does not imply anticompetitive or improper behavior.
  • DEF-5.3: CBO estimated that in each year since 2006 more than $50 billion, on average, of funding designated for Overseas Contingency Operations supported enduring activities, and GAO found that the share DoD itself considers non-war rose from about 4 percent in fiscal year 2010 to 12 percent in fiscal year 2015.
  • DEF-5.4: In January 2017 GAO reported that DoD had an internal estimate of $20 to $30 billion in enduring costs funded through OCO and had not finalized it or reported it outside the department.
  • DEF-5.8: In August 2026 GAO reported that DoD components lacked the staff and technology for the blast-exposure cognitive assessments and the industrial hygiene personnel for the exposure tracking that DoD required in August 2024.
  • DEF-5.9: DoD's 2022 Civilian Harm Action Plan states that the U.S. military has not maintained an enterprise-wide, comprehensive database for civilian harm reporting, and in May 2026 the DoD Inspector General found that components fully implemented none of the Plan's objectives by the end of fiscal year 2025.
  • POL-6.4: GAO reported in 2008 that DOJ lacks clear legal authority to inspect the records of persons it believes should register, that DOJ sought that authority in 1991 without success, and that its FARA Registration Unit fell from 13 staff in 1990 to 8 in 2008.
  • POL-7.7: GAO wrote on 21 July 2009 that "Clearly, DOD attempted to favorably influence public opinion with respect to the Administration's war policies in Iraq and Afghanistan through the RMOs," held that the program did not violate the publicity-or-propaganda prohibition, and recorded that the DOD Inspector General withdrew its first report on the program on 5 May 2009.
  • POL-7.8: GAO found that unattributed video news releases produced for HHS and its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (B-302710, 19 May 2004), the Office of National Drug Control Policy (B-303495, 4 January 2005) and the Department of Education (B-304228, 30 September 2005) violated the publicity-or-propaganda prohibition, and in the last two opinions called the news stories "covert propaganda."
  • POL-7.9: GAO found on 30 September 2005 that the Education Department contracted for Armstrong Williams to comment regularly on No Child Left Behind without assuring that the Department's role was disclosed, and that the arrangement "amounted to covert propaganda." The Department told GAO it paid Ketchum $188,543.48 for the two task orders, of which $186,000 covered amounts Ketchum paid Williams's company, the Graham Williams Group.
  • POL-7.10: GAO found on 14 December 2015 that the Environmental Protection Agency's use of the Thunderclap platform during the Waters of the United States rulemaking was covert propaganda, and that hyperlinks in an EPA blog post to pages of the Natural Resources Defense Council and Surfrider "constitute grassroots lobbying."
  • POL-8.2: Each Reserve Bank board has nine directors: three Class A chosen by and representing the stockholding banks, three Class B elected by the member banks to represent the public, and three Class C designated by the Board of Governors. Since the Dodd-Frank Act of 21 July 2010, the Class B and Class C directors appoint the Reserve Bank president, with Board approval, and the Class A directors take no part.
  • POL-8.4: GAO's Table 8 totals $16,115 billion of loans across the Fed's broad-based emergency programs by adding every renewal of overnight loans without adjusting for term, and GAO found that loans outstanding peaked above $1 trillion in late 2008. Senator Sanders's release of 21 July 2011 described the audit as uncovering "$16 trillion in secret loans."
  • POL-8.5: GAO reported that JPMorgan Chase was both a borrower and a vendor in the Fed's emergency programs while its chief executive served as a Class A director of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York Fed's releases name Jamie Dimon, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive, as a Class A director from January 2007, reelected in February 2010 for a term ending December 2012.
  • POL-8.6: GAO identified at least 18 current and former directors from 9 Reserve Banks who were affiliated with institutions that used at least one emergency program, including 11 Class A directors who served between 2008 and 2010, and wrote that member-bank representatives on Reserve Bank boards create an appearance of a conflict of interest. GAO also found no evidence of systemic bias toward favoring particular institutions in the emergency programs.
  • POL-8.8: From 2008 to 2010 the New York Fed paid BlackRock fees across seven contract lines that sum to $212.0 million in GAO's tables. Four of the lines, worth $194.5 million, were awarded noncompetitively: Maiden Lane ($107.6 million), Maiden Lane III ($50.0 million), Maiden Lane II ($24.1 million) and Citigroup valuation ($12.7 million).

Exhibits naming this entity

  • Exhibit 248 January 2017. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Overseas Contingency Operations: OMB and DOD Should Revise the Criteria for Determining Eligible Costs and Identify the Costs Likely to Endure Long Term, GAO-17-68
  • Exhibit 249 10 January 2018. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Defense Budget: Obligations of Overseas Contingency Operations Funding for Operation and Maintenance Base Requirements, GAO-18-202R
  • Exhibit 260 18 August 2026. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Defense Health Care: DOD Should Assess Its Needs for Managing Potential Brain Health Effects from Weapons Blast Exposures, GAO-26-107829
  • Exhibit 269 February 2024. U.S. Government Accountability Office: DOD Law of War Policies: Actions Needed to Ensure Proper Reporting and Retention of Alleged Violations, GAO-24-107217
  • Exhibit 270 March 2024. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Civilian Harm: DOD Should Take Actions to Enhance Its Plan for Mitigation and Response Efforts, GAO-24-106257
  • Exhibit 286 25 February 2025. U.S. Government Accountability Office: High-Risk Series: Heightened Attention Could Save Billions More and Improve Government Efficiency and Effectiveness (GAO-25-107743)
  • Exhibit 287 13 May 2026. U.S. Government Accountability Office: DOD Financial Management: Questions Associated with New Financial Audit Approach (GAO-26-109115)
  • Exhibit 288 September 2025. U.S. Government Accountability Office: DOD Financial Management: Insights into the Auditability of DOD's Fiscal Year 2024 Balance Sheet (GAO-25-108052)
  • Exhibit 289 July 2024. U.S. Government Accountability Office: DOD Financial Management: FY 2023 Financial Statement Audit Progress and Challenges (GAO-24-107478)
  • Exhibit 290 February 2026. U.S. Government Accountability Office: DOD Financial Management: Air Force Needs to Properly Account for All General Equipment That Contractors Hold (GAO-26-107442)
  • Exhibit 330 April 2022. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Federal Contracting: Implementation of Changes to Cost or Pricing Data Requirements (GAO-22-105307)
  • Exhibit 335 July 2026. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Weapon Systems Annual Assessment: Requiring Mature Technologies Could Enable Shift to Rapid Delivery (GAO-26-108457)
  • Exhibit 336 June 2025. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Weapon Systems Annual Assessment (GAO-25-107569)
  • Exhibit 337 15 April 2024. U.S. Government Accountability Office: F-35 Sustainment: Costs Continue to Rise While Planned Use and Availability Have Decreased (GAO-24-106703)
  • Exhibit 345 23 December 1986. U.S. General Accounting Office: Government Contracting: Assessment of the Study of Defense Contractor Profitability (GAO/NSIAD-87-50)
  • Exhibit 346 June 2026. U.S. Government Accountability Office: F-35 Sustainment: Actions Needed to Ensure Updated Strategy Improves Persistent Readiness Challenges (GAO-26-108113)
  • Exhibit 353 21 May 2008. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Defense Contracting: Post-Government Employment of Former DOD Officials Needs Greater Transparency (GAO-08-485)
  • Exhibit 354 9 September 2021. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Post-Government Employment Restrictions: DOD Could Further Enhance Its Compliance Efforts Related to Former Employees Working for Defense Contractors (GAO-21-104311)
  • Exhibit 557 18 October 2023. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Dietary Guidelines for Americans: Strengthening Interagency Collaboration Could Help Inform Nutrition Research and Future Guidelines (GAO-24-106130)
  • Exhibit 562 February 2010. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Food Safety: FDA Should Strengthen Its Oversight of Food Ingredients Determined to Be Generally Recognized as Safe (GRAS) (GAO-10-246)
  • Exhibit 610 April 2018. U.S. Government Accountability Office: U.S. Department of Agriculture: Additional Data Analysis Could Enhance Monitoring of U.S. Cattle Market (GAO-18-296)
  • Exhibit 651 November 2023. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Crop Insurance: Update on Opportunities to Reduce Program Costs (GAO-24-106086)
  • Exhibit 652 March 2012. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Crop Insurance: Savings Would Result from Program Changes and Greater Use of Data Mining (GAO-12-256)
  • Exhibit 653 July 2012. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Farm Programs: Direct Payments Should Be Reconsidered (GAO-12-640)
  • Exhibit 654 April 2004. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Farm Program Payments: USDA Needs to Strengthen Regulations and Oversight to Better Ensure Recipients Do Not Circumvent Payment Limitations (GAO-04-407)
  • Exhibit 655 September 2013. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Farm Programs: Changes Are Needed to Eligibility Requirements for Being Actively Involved in Farming (GAO-13-781)
  • Exhibit 656 October 2020. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Farm Programs: USDA Has Improved Its Completion of Eligibility Compliance Reviews, but Additional Oversight Is Needed (GAO-21-95)
  • Exhibit 657 18 May 2018 (reissued 5 June 2018). U.S. Government Accountability Office: Farm Programs: Information on Payments (GAO-18-384R)
  • Exhibit 658 21 August 2020. U.S. Government Accountability Office: USDA Market Facilitation Program: Information on Payments for 2019 (GAO-20-700R)
  • Exhibit 659 January 2022. U.S. Government Accountability Office: USDA Market Facilitation Program: Oversight of Future Supplemental Assistance to Farmers Could Be Improved (GAO-22-104259)
  • Exhibit 660 2022. U.S. Government Accountability Office: USDA Market Facilitation Program: Stronger Adherence to Quality Guidelines Would Improve Future Economic Analyses (GAO-22-468)
  • Exhibit 771 4 April 2013. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Political Intelligence: Financial Market Value of Government Information Hinges on Materiality and Timing (GAO-13-389)
  • Exhibit 782 21 July 2010. U.S. Congress: Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, Public Law 111-203, sections 1103, 1107 and 1109
  • Exhibit 784 July 2011. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Federal Reserve System: Opportunities Exist to Strengthen Policies and Processes for Managing Emergency Assistance (GAO-11-696)
  • Exhibit 785 July 2011. U.S. Government Accountability Office: GAO-11-696, p. 130: method note for Table 8 (total loans not adjusted for term)
  • Exhibit 786 October 2011. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Federal Reserve Bank Governance: Opportunities Exist to Broaden Director Recruitment Efforts and Increase Transparency (GAO-12-18)
  • Exhibit 800 21 July 2011. Office of Senator Bernie Sanders: Senator Sanders, "The Fed Audit" (press release)
  • Exhibit 801 Page opened 10 November 2026. Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System: Federal Reserve Board FAQ: Is the Fed's emergency lending audited by the Congress? Is information about the Fed's emergency lending provided to the public?
  • Exhibit 820 30 July 2008. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Post-Government Employment Restrictions and Foreign Agent Registration: Additional Action Needed to Enhance Implementation of Requirements, GAO-08-855
  • Exhibit 855 21 July 2009. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Department of Defense - Retired Military Officers as Media Analysts, B-316443
  • Exhibit 858 19 May 2004. U.S. General Accounting Office (Comptroller General): Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services - Video News Releases, B-302710
  • Exhibit 859 4 January 2005. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Office of National Drug Control Policy - Video News Release, B-303495
  • Exhibit 860 30 September 2005. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Department of Education - No Child Left Behind Act Video News Release and Media Analysis, B-304228
  • Exhibit 861 30 September 2005. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Department of Education - Contract to Obtain Services of Armstrong Williams, B-305368
  • Exhibit 862 14 December 2015. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Environmental Protection Agency - Application of Publicity or Propaganda and Anti-Lobbying Provisions, B-326944
  • Exhibit 986 November 2006. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Prescription Drugs: Improvements Needed in FDA’s Oversight of Direct-to-Consumer Advertising, GAO-07-54
  • Exhibit 1010 25 August 2006. U.S. Government Accountability Office: ONDCP Media Campaign: Contractor's National Evaluation Did Not Find That the Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign Was Effective in Reducing Youth Drug Use (GAO-06-818)
  • Exhibit 1012 30 September 1987. U.S. Government Accountability Office (Comptroller General): Department of State, Office of Public Diplomacy for Latin America and the Caribbean, B-229069, 66 Comp. Gen. 707
  • Exhibit 1013 30 September 2005. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Department of Health and Human Services, Contract with Maggie Gallagher, B-304716
  • Exhibit 1014 22 August 2018. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Environmental Protection Agency, Application of Publicity or Propaganda and Anti-Lobbying Provisions to Then-Administrator's Appearance in a Trade Association's Video, B-329504
  • Exhibit 1015 3 October 2019. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Environmental Protection Agency, Application of a Publicity or Propaganda Provision to an EPA Tweet, B-330107
  • Exhibit 1016 17 June 2020. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Executive Agencies, Communications about the 2019 Fourth of July Events on the National Mall, B-331262
  • Exhibit 1017 17 February 2005. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Prepackaged News Stories, B-304272
  • Exhibit 1276 February 1995. U.S. General Accounting Office: High-Risk Series: An Overview (GAO/HR-95-1)
  • Exhibit 1283 September 2002. U.S. General Accounting Office: Food and Drug Administration: Effect of User Fees on Drug Approval Times, Withdrawals, and Other Agency Activities (GAO-02-958)
  • Exhibit 1285 September 2021. U.S. Government Accountability Office: Post-Government Employment Restrictions: DOD Could Further Enhance Its Compliance Efforts Related to Former Employees Working for Defense Contractors (GAO-21-104311)