TESTIMONY OF EUGENE L. DODARO 

TO BE COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES 

U.S. GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE 

Statement before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and 

Governmental Affairs 

November 18, 2010 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Collins and Members of the Committee. 

Good afternoon. I am pleased to be here today to discuss my nomination to become Comptroller 

General of the United States. I greatly value the trust and support provided by the ten member 

bi-cameral bi-partisan Congressional Commission in forwarding my name to President Obama and 

by the President in nominating me for this important position. I also would like to take this unique 

opportunity to thank the thousands of people at GAO I have worked with over the years and to 

recognize that without their dedicated and talented support, I would not be before you today. 

If confirmed, I pledge to continue to faithfully and diligently lead GAO in accomplishing its 

mission to support Congress in carrying out its constitutional responsibilities and to help improve 

the performance and accountability of government for the benefit of the American people. At this 

juncture, our Nation’s elected leaders face an array of complex domestic and international 

challenges which need to be successfully addressed to ensure the well-being of our citizens and the 

security and prosperity of our county. GAO can help the Congress by providing high quality, 

objective and timely analysis of government programs, operations and finances – information that 

the Congress needs to make policy choices, ensure transparency and accountability, and protect the 

taxpayer. In short, there are tremendous challenges ahead, and I would be honored to lead GAO 

during this important period in our Nation’s history. 

While I have already provided the Committee information on my background and views on the 

responsibilities of the Comptroller General as well as GAO’s role and operations, there are a few 

points that merit emphasizing today. As a start, I want to underscore that, if confirmed, my overall 

approach to leading GAO would be to build on its solid foundation as a steadfast non-partisan 

watchdog for the American people, a trusted advisor to the Congress, and a leading force in 

promoting more effective and efficient management across government. 

This vision for GAO includes sustaining and enhancing its core functions, while continuing to 

evolve GAO in ways that can better serve the Congress and the Nation in a first rate manner, now 

and in the future. I would work to continuously enhance GAO’s capabilities to provide timely and 

quality service to committees throughout the Congress to address current and emerging challenges. 

This assistance spans the breadth of government activities and interests, ranging from homeland and 

national security challenges to health care, education, and retirement concerns, natural resources, 

environmental and infrastructure issues, as well regulatory reforms related to financial institutions 

and the housing sector, including efforts to resolve the status of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

Within this context of broad based assistance to the institution of the Congress, I would also provide 

even greater emphasis on identifying high risk issues across government and in working 

collaboratively with the Congress, agency leaders and OMB to resolve them. Making greater 

progress in solving high risk areas that are in need of broad-based transformation or are vulnerable 

Statement of Gene Dodaro November 18, 2010 
to waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement would significantly contribute to ensuring a more 

efficient and effective government. Areas currently on the high risk list cover critical sectors of the 

government and the economy, such as improving weapons systems’ acquisition and DOD business 

operations, transforming the Department of Homeland Security, providing more effective tax 

administration and curtailing fraud, waste and abuse in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. 

Beyond the high risk areas, it is critical for GAO to provide insights into the government’s financial 

condition and outlook and to seek ways to contribute to a more efficient and fiscally sustainable 

government. This includes working to help agencies identify and reduce billions of dollars in 

improper payments; identifying areas of duplication, overlap and fragmentation, as well as other 

opportunities to save money and enhance revenue; and helping promote more effective financial, 

information technology, acquisition, and performance management practices that can lead to 

eliminating wasteful approaches, provide greater efficiency, and ensure better accountability of 

taxpayer dollars. I would also continue to enhance GAO’s forensic audit capabilities to help ferret 

out fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement. 

Addressing all of these goals and aspirations for GAO requires that it always have a first rate, 

multi-disciplinary workforce. I have, and would continue to, if confirmed, devote significant effort 

to ensure that GAO always has the managerial and technical skills needed to consistently produce 

high quality work and meet congressional interests. Currently, GAO has a highly skilled multidisciplinary workforce, comprised of subject area and technical expertise from a range of 

disciplines, including public policy analysts, financial auditors, economists, attorneys, social science 

analysts, information technology specialists, civil engineers, statisticians and physical scientists. 

If confirmed, I would plan to continue to enhance GAO’s workforce to meet evolving needs, 

especially in the areas of technology, science and engineering. 

In addition to having the right skills, GAO should always have the best possible respectful, 

inclusive and inviting working environment. While GAO has consistently been ranked among the 

best places to work in the federal government, attention to continuous improvement is necessary to 

make a great agency even better. I am committed to maintaining constructive relationships with our 

union, all of GAO’s employee groups, and our people. Of paramount importance to me is ensuring 

that GAO always has a motivated, high performing, diverse workforce where people feel 

represented, valued and treated fairly. 

I also want to take today’s opportunity to thank this Committee for its strong support of GAO, 

including its unwavering commitment to our high risk program. Additionally, I very much 

appreciate the Committee’s unanimous action reporting S. 2991, the Government Accountability 

Office Improvement Act of 2010, out of committee. The bill, if enacted, would reaffirm GAO’s 

authority to enforce its statutory access rights, providing a legislative remedy for the federal district 

court’s decision in Walker v. Cheney, and confirm GAO’s statutory access rights in several respects. 

While the changes made by the bill are relatively modest, they are very important in enhancing 

GAO’s ability to achieve prompt resolutions of access problems. 

It is very important that GAO obtains the information it needs to do its work. GAO generally 

receives good cooperation from most departments and agencies in obtaining access to information 

and it is fairly rare for an agency to deny GAO access to information and rarer still that an agency 

will not work toward an accommodation that allows GAO to do its work. However, GAO does in 

certain cases experience access difficulties. For example, as you know, GAO has faced challenges 

Statement of Gene Dodaro November 18, 2010 
Statement of Gene Dodaro November 18, 2010 

in obtaining access to information from agencies in the intelligence community, even when the 

activities under review involve basic human capital and management functions. The recent 

Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 requires the Director of National Intelligence 

(DNI), in consultation with the Comptroller General, to issue a new directive governing GAO’s 

access to information in the possession of an element of the intelligence community, and GAO has 

started engaging with DNI staff on this directive. 

In closing, I would greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve the Congress and our country as 

Comptroller General of the United States. I am committed to public service and would always lead 

GAO in a manner faithful to its core values of accountability, integrity and reliability. It would be 

my honor and distinct privilege to lead GAO’s talented and dedicated workforce in providing high 

quality professional and objective analyses and advice to help address the many challenges facing 

our nation. I would always do my very best to serve the Congress and help improve government for 

the benefit of all. 

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Collins, Members of the Committee, this concludes my opening 

remarks. Thank you all for your time and attention. I would be pleased to answer your questions.