SER | SRE Wnited States Senate COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS WASHINGTON, DC 20510-6250, September 17, 2014 ‘The Honorable Gene Dodaro U.S. Comptroller General Government Accountability Office 441 G St, NW Washington, DC 20548 Dear Mr. Dodaro, 1 am writing regarding the public disclosure of classified and restricted reports produced by the Government Accountability Oftice (GAO). GAO spends a significant amount of taxpayer resources each year producing reports that contain information marked Classified, For Official Use Only (FOUO) or an equivalent label by federal agencies. This work is critically important to support Congress’s oversight responsibilities and to the public. In most of these cases, GAO produces and posts on its website a publicly- available report that excludes information designated as classified or sensitive. However, GAO currently does not list these reports containing classified or sensitive material on its web site or in the email digests sent to subscribers. Knowledge of these reports’ existence has significant value for the public, federal oversight community, and legislative branch. To the extent that these stakeholders are not aware of these reports’ existence, it can impair Congressional oversight by failing to disclose current information on critical issues, and could result in increased risk of potential duplication by other Congressional support organizations, including the Congressional Research Service. For these reasons, I request your agency to make available on its website and in email notifications the title and number of new non-public reports, to the extent that the publication of such information is not itself classified or restricted. [ also ask that GAO maintain a list of these reports and ensure that this list is updated on an ongoing basis to include newly issued reports that are not publicly available. 1 believe these actions will increase efficiency, reduce duplication and maximize taxpayers’ return on dollars devoted to government oversight. It will also bring GAO’s disclosure policies and practices in line with other oversight agencies such as agency Inspectors General (Gs). Finally, it will increase overall awareness of the wide range of GAO’s work and its value {o government oversight effortsI appreciate your attention to this matter, and look forward to monitoring your progress and working with you to address any implementation challenges you may face. Please contact Tony McClain (Tony_McClain@hsgac.senate.gov) or Laura Peterson (Laura_Peterson@hsyac.senate. gov) with any further questions. Sincerely, Senator Jon Tester Chairman Subcommittee on the Efficiency and Effectiveness of Federal Programs and the Federal Workforce