United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

March 31, 2010 

The Honorable Daniel K. Inouye 

Chairman 

The Honorable Thad Cochran 

Vice Chairman 

Committee on Appropriations 

United States Senate 

The Honorable David R. Obey 

Chairman 

The Honorable Jerry Lewis 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Appropriations 

House of Representatives 

Subject: Final Review of Expenses from the Department of Justice Permanent 

Indefinite Appropriation Covering the 7-Month Period Ending September 30, 

2009 

This report presents the results of our review of the expenses paid from the 

Department of Justice (DOJ) permanent, indefinite appropriation covering the 7- 

month period ending September 30, 2009. The expenses we reviewed were those 

paid out of the permanent, indefinite appropriation by DOJ between March 1, 

2009, and September 30, 2009, to cover Independent and Special Counsel 

administrative activities. With the October 2009 repeal of the requirement for a 

GAO review and report on such expenses, this represents our final report. 

Background

The independent counsel law directed DOJ to pay all costs related to the 

establishment and operation of any office of independent counsel.1 A permanent, 

indefinite appropriation was established by Public Law 100-2022

 within DOJ to pay 

all necessary expenses for investigations and prosecutions by independent 

counsels appointed pursuant to the independent counsel law or other law. 

Subsequent to the termination of the independent counsel law, DOJ determined 

that the permanent, indefinite appropriation is available to fund the expenditures 

 

1

28 U.S.C. § 594(d)(2). 

2

The permanent, indefinite appropriation was established by Pub. L. No. 100-202, § 101(a), title II, 

101 Stat. 1329, 1329-9 (Dec. 22, 1987), 28 U.S.C. § 591 note. 

Page 1 GAO-10-524R Special Counsel Expenses 
of U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, who was appointed as a special counsel 

within DOJ by the then Acting Attorney General.3

 

On December 30, 2003, the then-Acting Attorney General appointed U.S. Attorney 

Fitzgerald as a Special Counsel to investigate whether officials of the George W. 

Bush administration illegally disclosed the identity of an undercover Central 

Intelligence Agency officer. In March 2007, after a jury trial, an administration 

official was convicted of perjury, lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and 

obstruction of justice in the investigation. In July 2007, the President of the 

United States commuted the prison term imposed by the sentencing judge upon 

the administration official. The administration official dropped his appeal of his 

convictions in December 2007. The activities of the special counsel were, for all 

practical purposes, concluded as of March 2008. However, the office of the 

special counsel remained open to respond to congressional requests for 

information. The office began archiving case files during the 7-month period 

ending September 30, 2009. 

Under Public Law 100-202, we were required to perform semiannual financial 

reviews of expenses paid from the fund and report our findings to the House and 

Senate Appropriations Committees. To satisfy this requirement, we reviewed 

expenses processed by DOJ and paid out of the permanent, indefinite 

appropriation to determine whether they were properly authorized and approved, 

supported by appropriate documentation, recorded accurately, and made in 

accordance with selected provisions of laws and regulations. On October 1, 2009, 

Public Law 111-68, Division A, section 1501(d), repealed the requirement for 

GAO’s semiannual review and report. Specifically, section 1501(d) provided that 

GAO is no longer required to perform a semiannual review of expenses paid from 

the permanent, indefinite appropriation effective October 1, 2009. Consequently, 

we are issuing this final review under our general authority to report on the use of 

public funds in order to (1) report on the 7-month period ending September 30, 

2009, that would have been covered under the repealed mandate, and (2) provide 

notice of the cessation of our reviews. 

The independent counsel law also designates specific responsibilities to the 

Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC) for the administrative support 

of independent counsels. DOJ periodically disbursed lump-sum payments to 

AOUSC for this purpose. 

As ordered by the Special Division, the Office of Independent Counsel Barrett—

the last independent counsel office—was terminated on May 3, 2006. After that 

date, the AOUSC continued to perform its administrative responsibilities. There 

 

3

We reviewed the legal authority for the Department of Justice to use the permanent, indefinite 

appropriation to fund the expenses relating to Special Counsel Fitzgerald’s investigation and, in 

our opinion to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, concluded that 

such use was not an illegal, improper, or unauthorized use of the appropriation. B-302582 (Sept. 

30, 2004). 

Page 2 GAO-10-524R Special Counsel Expenses 
have been no independent counsels in operation since May 3, 2006. However, 

there was one active special counsel. 

Results of Our Review 

Expenses Related to Special Counsel Fitzgerald

Our review of the expenses on behalf of Special Counsel Fitzgerald covering the 7 

months ending September 30, 2009, found that DOJ processed and paid expenses 

totaling $55,433. The expenses consisted of personnel compensation and benefits, 

travel and lodging, and contractual services. We found that all expenses were 

supported by appropriate documentation and were properly authorized, 

approved, and recorded. A breakdown of expenses incurred related to the office 

of Special Counsel Fitzgerald’s for the 7 months ended September 30, 2009, is 

presented in table 1 below. 

Table 1: Special Counsel Fitzgerald Office’s Expenses for the 7 Months Ended 

September 30, 2009 

Description Amount 

Personnel compensation and benefits $7,181 

Travel and lodging 7,049 

Contractual services 41,978 

Credits for payroll processing fee reversals (775)

Total $55,433

Source: DOJ Financial Management Information System 

For the period of our review, personnel compensation and benefits of employees 

assigned to assist with the archival of the special counsel case files totaled $7,181. 

The special counsel also incurred travel expenses of $7,049 to assist with the 

archival of the case files. In addition, the special counsel incurred contractual 

service expenses totaling $41,978 related to payments to a vendor assisting with 

the archival process. 

During our review, we also found several credits totaling $775 related to reversals 

of National Finance Center payroll processing fees that DOJ erroneously charged 

to the special counsel. We determined that all credits were supported by 

appropriate documentation. 

Our tests for compliance with selected provisions of laws and regulations 

disclosed no instances of noncompliance with respect to the expenses processed 

and paid by DOJ that would be reportable under U.S. generally accepted 

government auditing standards. 

Page 3 GAO-10-524R Special Counsel Expenses
Expenses Related to Closed Independent Counsels

On September 15, 2009, the AOUSC requested reimbursement of $65,781 for 

expenses related to the formerly active independent counsels. According to the 

AOUSC, the vast majority of this amount related to expenses that the AOUSC had 

previously paid on behalf of Independent Counsel Barrett but for which the 

AOUSC was not previously reimbursed. However, the AOUSC was unable to 

provide us with detailed support for these expenses. 

Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 

Our objectives were to determine whether the expenses processed by DOJ and 

paid out of the permanent, indefinite appropriation for the 7-month period ending 

September 30, 2009, were properly authorized and approved, supported by 

appropriate documentation, recorded accurately, and made in accordance with 

selected provisions of laws and regulations. 

To perform our review, we obtained expense data files from DOJ and traced the 

recorded expenses to supporting documentation including payroll records, travel 

vouchers, and invoices. We reviewed all expenses paid out of the permanent, 

indefinite appropriation between March 1, 2009, and September 30, 2009, for 

proper authorization and approval to determine whether they were supported by 

appropriate documentation and recorded accurately by DOJ. We also reviewed 

expenses to determine whether they were made in accordance with selected 

provisions of Title 5 of the United States Code, the Prompt Payment Act, and 

selected provisions related to pay administration and travel regulations. We were 

not required to, nor did we test, the appropriateness of the expenses. 

We conducted this performance audit from January 2010, through March 2010, in 

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. Those 

standards require that we plan and perform the review to obtain sufficient, 

appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for our findings and 

conclusions based on our review objectives. We believe that the evidence 

obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings and conclusions based on 

our review objectives. We provided a draft of this correspondence to the 

Department of Justice, Justice Management Division, and Special Counsel 

Fitzgerald. These entities agreed with the facts and conclusions presented in our 

draft correspondence. 

____________________ 

We are sending copies of this report to the Chairman and Ranking Members of the 

Senate and House Committees on Appropriations, the Attorney General, the 

Special Counsel, and other interested parties. In addition, this correspondence is 

available at no cost on GAO’s Web site at http://www.gao.gov. Please contact me 

at (202) 512-3406 or sebastians@gao.gov if you or your staff have any questions 

concerning this correspondence. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional 

Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this 

Page 4 GAO-10-524R Special Counsel Expenses 
correspondence. GAO staff who made major contributions to this correspondence 

are Julie Phillips, Assistant Director; Vivian Gutierrez; and Richard Cambosos. 

Steven J. Sebastian 

Director 

Financial Management and Assurance 

(196217) 

Page 5 GAO-10-524R Special Counsel Expenses
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