Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Committee, Susan Collins, R-Maine, and ranking
member Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., have praised a
Government Accountability Office plan to establish
an office of forensic investigations “capable of
addressing government programs of particular concern.”
The committee has jurisdiction over GAO, and the
senators said they had asked Comptroller General David
Walker to look into ways integrate the agency’s
investigative, auditing, and analytical abilities.
The senators said in a joint statement that Walker
came back with a plan to merge GAO’s office of special
investigations with forensic auditors to form the new
unit, which will focus on selected high-risk areas in
federal agencies and financial management of government
programs, such as the Department of Defense’s business
systems modernization efforts.
Greg Kutz, GAO’s director for financial management and
assurance issues, is slated to head the new OFI, which
would still be expected to respond to congressional requests.
“We believe that the combination of GAO’s talented
investigators and forensic auditors can achieve results
well beyond what each realizes on its own,” the senators
said.
“The goal is to develop a dedicated interdisciplinary
staff capable of conducting reviews of any government
program, particularly where there is alleged waste, fraud,
or abuse, quickly uncovering any problems and offering
constructive solutions to them.”
