AGENCY COMMENTS

We provided drafts of this report in August 2001 to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Transportation, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, and the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or their designees, for their review. Cognizant agency officials from DOT, IRS, OPM, and FAA responded orally and agreed with the contents of the draft report. In some cases, they also provided written technical comments to clarify specific points regarding the information presented. Where appropriate, we have made changes to this report that reflect these technical comments. FEMA did not provide comments on this report.

As agreed with your office, unless you announce the contents of this report earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days after its issue date. At that time, we will send copies of the report to the Chairman, Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, Restructuring, and the District of Columbia, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs; the Chairman and Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs; and the Chairman and Ranking Member, Subcommittee on Security, Proliferation, and Federal Services, Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs. We will also send copies to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, the Secretary of Transportation, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management, and the Administrator of FEMA. In addition, we will make copies available to others upon request.

If you have any questions about this report, please contact me or Susan Ragland on [phone]. Others who contributed to this report were N. Scott Einhorn, Shirley Bates, Tom Beall, Gerard Burke, Renee Chafitz, Sharon Hogan, Cassandra Joseph, John Lesser, Michelle Sager, and Greg Whitney.

Sincerely yours,

J. Christopher Mihm

Director, Strategic Issues