GAO

United States General Accounting Office

Report to the Chairman, Committee on 

Appropriations, U.S. Senate

August 1999 DEFENSE 

TRANSPORTATION

89th Airlift Wing 

Executive Branch 

Policies Improved but 

Reimbursement Issues 

Remain

GAO/NSIAD-99-170

Page 1 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft

United States General Accounting Office

Washington, D.C. 20548

National Security and

International Affairs Division

B-282994 Letter

August 16, 1999

The Honorable Ted Stevens

Chairman, Committee on Appropriations

United States Senate

Dear Mr. Chairman:

In 1992, we issued a report on policies and procedures governing access to 

and use of the 89th Airlift Wing entitled Military Aircraft: Policies on

Government Officials’ Use of 89th Military Airlift Wing Aircraft

(GAO/NSIAD-92-133). We reported that the policies governing the use of 

military aircraft were too broad and vague to have much impact on the use 

of the 89th Airlift Wing by executive and legislative branch officials. 

Moreover, at that time, the use of aircraft was free of charge to all but a few 

users, and no one independently verified compliance with policies. We 

concluded that the policies and their implementation were inadequate and 

did not ensure that the wing’s airlift resources were being used 

appropriately and consistently. We made several recommendations 

designed to strengthen controls over uses of the 89th Airlift Wing and 

reimbursements for such uses. 

At your request, we determined whether (1) changes to executive branch 

policies since 1992 addressed the intent of our recommendations and

(2) reimbursements have been made for use of 89th Airlift Wing aircraft. 

Because most of the missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing are in support 

of the executive branch, we focused our analysis on the changes made to 

executive branch guidance concerning the use of government-owned 

aircraft, such as the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular 

A-126 and other relevant Department of Defense (DOD) and White House 

implementing guidance. We are also providing you with information on 

which agencies of the government were the most frequent wing users 

during 1993-99 and how DOD resolves scheduling conflicts. 

Results in Brief OMB, DOD, and the White House addressed our recommendations in 

policy revisions made since 1992, thus strengthening the management and 

use of the 89th Airlift Wing by defining key terms, specifying circumstances 

under which reimbursements are due, and requiring certain record-keeping 

measures. Requests to DOD for use of the wing generally complied with 
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applicable policies on justifications for using the 89th Airlift Wing. However, 

DOD acknowledged that agency reimbursements for wing missions have 

generally not been collected for 2 years and in some cases for as long as 6 

years. Also, reimbursements for nonofficial travel in some cases were 

credited to the wrong accounts or the collection of the reimbursements 

could not be verified. Although in our 1992 report we noted problems with 

reimbursement processes, instructions to collect and account for them are 

still lacking. We are making a recommendation in this report to the 

Secretary of Defense to improve the billing and reimbursement process.

Background The 89th Airlift Wing, located at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, is a 

component of the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command. The wing provides 

worldwide airlift for the President, Vice President, cabinet members, and 

other high-ranking dignitaries of the U.S. and foreign governments. As of 

June 1999, the wing had 20 fixed-wing aircraft and 19 helicopters. (The 

helicopters are used to meet transportation needs in the Washington, D.C., 

area, and are not discussed in this report.) Table 1 displays the wing’s 

fixed-wing aircraft inventory.

Table 1: The 89th Airlift Wing’s Inventory of Fixed-Wing Aircraft

a

One C-137 is scheduled to be retired from the inventory in August 1999.

b

Passenger loads vary due to aircraft configuration.

Source: 89th Airlift Wing.

The two VC-25As are for the President’s exclusive use. However, the 

President also uses other aircraft as his transportation needs dictate. When 

the President is on board any of these aircraft, it is referred to as Air Force 

One. Other than the VC-25As, 89th Airlift Wing aircraft are available for

Type Quantity

Number of

passengers Civilian aircraft variant

VC-25A 2 76 Boeing 747

C-32 4 45 Boeing 757

C-20B 5 12 Gulfstream III

C-20H 2 12 Gulfstream IV

C-9C 3 42 Douglas DC-9

C-137 2a 52 or 61b Boeing 707

C-37 2 12 Gulfstream V
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executive, legislative, and judicial branch travel. The Office of the 

Secretary of Defense (OSD) ranks missions in order of priority in the event 

of a scheduling conflict according to (1) the lead traveler’s place on a DOD 

priority ranking list or (2) the Secretary of Defense’s determination as to 

the national interest of the proposed mission.

The 89th Airlift Wing’s flight operations are funded from annual 

appropriations to the Air Force’s Operations and Maintenance (O&M) 

account. The Air Mobility Command manages the portion of the O&M 

account that funds the wing and certain other operations. The wing 

reported that its overall budget for fiscal year 1999, including O&M and 

other funds, is about $356.9 million for flight operations, civilian and 

military payrolls, and the medical group.1

DOD Has Been the Most 

Frequent User of the Wing 

Since 1993

The 89th Airlift Wing completed 4,562 missions from January 1, 1993, 

through February 9, 1999. Table 2 shows which government agencies used 

wing aircraft most frequently.

Table 2: Usage of the 89th Airlift Wing by Agency

a

Many missions involved numerous trip segments, but if the mission number did not change, we 

considered it to be one mission.

b

Includes missions ordered by either the White House or the Department of State.

Source: 89th Airlift Wing.

1

This includes base functions supporting non-89th Airlift Wing tenant units at Andrews Air Force Base.

Agency Number of missionsa

Percentage of total

missions

DOD 1,979 43.4

White House 1,740 38.1

Congress 426 9.3

Department of State 245 5.4b

Others 172 3.8

Total 4,562 100
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Mission Request, Approval, 

Scheduling, and 

Reimbursement Processes 

for the 89th Airlift Wing

Request and approval procedures for missions vary depending on the 

users. Normally, requests for trips directed by the President and approved 

by the White House are sent by the White House Military Office directly to 

the Air Force’s Office of the Vice Chief of Staff, Special Air Missions 

(hereafter referred to as the Office of Special Air Missions) for scheduling. 

Members of Congress send requests to OSD (Legislative Affairs) for 

approval. Executive branch cabinet department and agency requests that 

are not sponsored by the White House, as well as OSD agency requests, are 

sent to OSD (Executive Secretary) for approval. OSD (Legislative Affairs) 

and OSD (Executive Secretary) send approved requests to the Office of 

Special Air Missions for scheduling. The military services send approved 

requests directly to the Office of Special Air Missions. After receiving 

approval notification, the Office of Special Air Missions reviews the 

proposed mission data and aircraft availability and then schedules the 89th

Airlift Wing to fly the mission. 

DOD officials explained that sometimes they receive more approved 

requests for transportation than they have aircraft available, which we 

called “scheduling conflicts.” These officials said the Office of Special Air 

Missions tries to resolve scheduling conflicts in consultation with the 

affected customer by (1) changing the departure date or time; (2) changing 

from the requested aircraft to another aircraft; (3) changing passenger 

requirements (for example, requesting that the passenger group be reduced 

so that it can be accommodated by a smaller, available aircraft); or

(4) placing the customer on a non-89th Airlift Wing aircraft. Air Force 

officials explained that if the Office of Special Air Missions still cannot 

resolve the conflict, it refers the matter to OSD (Executive Secretary) for 

resolution. OSD (Executive Secretary) officials will then make a decision 

by ranking the priority of travelers and usually scheduling the mission of 

the lead traveler with the higher priority ranking. However, at times, these 

officials stressed, the Secretary of Defense may determine that a particular 

mission has a higher national interest and may schedule that mission 

regardless of the priority ranking of the lead traveler. DOD does not require 

that records be kept showing when a conflict has occurred and how it was 

resolved, and such records were not kept.
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Under the Economy Act of 1932,2 DOD is required to collect 

reimbursements for the cost of aircraft operations when it provides

89th Airlift Wing airlift support to non-DOD agencies except when the 

support is at the direction of the White House. Reimbursements fall into 

two categories: agency reimbursements and nonofficial traveler 

reimbursements. Agencies make reimbursements for wing support through 

transfers of appropriated funds to DOD. White House and White 

House-directed missions are nonreimbursable, and DOD funds them. Other 

non-DOD executive branch missions are reimbursable, and the agency is to 

pay the full cost of operating the aircraft.3

 Prior to 1996, the Air Force’s Air 

Mobility Command billed agencies for reimbursements, collected them, 

and credited the receipts to the Command’s O&M account. In 1996, the Air 

Mobility Command transferred the agency billing and reimbursement 

responsibility to DOD’s Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS). 

Thus, at the time of our review, DFAS did the billing and collections and 

credited the receipts to the Air Mobility Command’s O&M account. 

On the other hand, 89th Airlift Wing users may permit nonofficial travelers 

on their missions as provided by OMB Circular A-126 and DOD Directive 

4500.56. Nonofficial passengers may join in the mission if (1) the aircraft 

was already scheduled for an official purpose, (2) the addition of such 

passengers does not require a larger aircraft, and (3) results in a negligible 

increase in aircraft operating costs. The agencies using the wing are also to 

collect travel costs from nonofficial travelers at the rate of a commercial 

coach class ticket to the destination traveled. For example, when the 

Secretary of Defense permits nonofficial travelers to accompany him on 

DOD aircraft, OSD (Personal Security) bills such travelers, except 

members of the news media. OSD (Public Affairs) bills news media 

representatives that accompany the Secretary of Defense on DOD aircraft. 

These reimbursements are sent to DFAS to be credited to the Air Mobility 

Command’s O&M account.

2

31 U.S.C. §§ 1535, 1536.

3

We did not evaluate the data used to set reimbursement rates that DOD charged non-DOD agencies for 

reimbursable 89th Airlift Wing missions. However, in other unrelated work, DOD has acknowledged 

fundamental problems in accumulating reliable cost information. 
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Policies Regarding Use 

and Management of the 

89th Airlift Wing Have 

Been Strengthened 

After our 1992 report, OMB, DOD, and the White House revised policies 

related to the 89th Airlift Wing, strengthening the management and use of 

the wing. Among these policies is OMB Circular A-126 (Improving the

Management and Use of Government Aircraft), a primary governing 

directive on the use of military or other government aircraft by executive 

branch officials. The 1989 version of the circular was in effect at the time of 

our 1992 report, and we concluded that the circular (1) inadequately 

defined key terms, (2) readily permitted travelers to assert that commercial 

transportation was not available, (3) did not require comparison of the cost 

of military versus commercial transportation, (4) did not clearly specify 

when nonofficial travelers should pay for their trips, and (5) did not specify 

the extent to which compliance with these policies should be documented 

and controlled. Table 3 displays the changes that we recommended to the 

circular and the changes OMB made.

Table 3: Actions Responding to Our 1992 Recommendations

AA

1992 GAO recommendation OMB action 

Clearly define key terms such as “official 

business” and describe how, when, by 

whom, and for what purposes the 89th Airlift 

Wing should be used (or alternatively, the 

purposes for which the 89th Airlift Wing 

should not be used).

Defined “mission requirements” and the 

purposes for which the wing can be used.

Defined “official travel.”

Established criteria for designating a 

government official as a required user of 

government aircraft. Required users are 

officials who have a need for 24-hour-a-day 

secure communications or unusual security 

concerns and are thus allowed to use the 

89th Airlift Wing for all travel, including 

personal travel.

Established the policy on when nonofficial 

travelers may travel on wing aircraft.

Provide specific guidance on how travelers 

should determine whether commercial 

aircraft services are available.

Established that commercial service is 

reasonably available if it can meet the 

traveler’s arrival or departure requirements 

within a 24-hour period.

Provide explicit guidance as to when and 

how travelers are to make cost comparisons 

and when it may be permissible not to use 

the most cost-effective transportation 

alternative.

Required a cost comparison unless the 

travel is by a required user or to meet 

mission requirements, two reasons for 

which the usually more expensive mode of 

government air transportation is permitted.
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Source: GAO and OMB.

Also, since February 1993, the White House has revised at least three 

memorandums that provide additional guidance on the use of DOD aircraft. 

The latest memorandum, dated November 16, 1998, specifies the terms 

under which non-DOD missions will be designated as either 

nonreimbursable or reimbursable to DOD and the criteria for making such 

decisions. White House support missions are provided on a 

nonreimbursable basis and directly support (1) the President, Vice 

President, and first family; (2) immediate White House activities; and

(3) missions directed by the President. For travel done by cabinet and 

government officials not on White House missions, use of DOD aircraft can 

be provided on a reimbursable basis if all of the following four conditions 

are met: (1) the travel is in the national interest, (2) DOD is fully 

reimbursed by the using agency at the appropriate flying hour rate, (3) the 

use of resources does not detract from the national defense, and (4) a 

commercial enterprise cannot provide the transportation as conveniently 

or cost-effectively. 

Finally, since 1992 DOD has issued at least four directives, memorandums, 

or other guidance that affect the use of the wing. These documents, among 

other things, implement the revised OMB circular, designate certain DOD 

officials as required users, and emphasize that military air travel is a 

premium mode of transportation involving high costs and limited 

resources. For example, DOD Regulation 4515.13-R, Air Transportation

Eligibility, issued in November 1994, specifies procedures and criteria for 

approving non-DOD airlift missions. For DOD to approve these missions, 

the regulation requires the requester to justify the purpose of the travel, 

state why commercial service is not being used, and indicate whether the 

proposed mission will be reimbursable or nonreimbursable. 

Clearly identify the circumstances under 

which both official and nonofficial travelers 

should reimburse the government for their 

travel and the appropriate amount to be 

reimbursed.

Specified that nonofficial travelers and 

official travelers on nonofficial business 

must reimburse the government at the rate 

of a coach class air ticket to the destination 

traveled and identified the circumstances 

under which reimbursements are due.

Clearly specify the extent to which 

compliance with each of these policies 

should be documented and controlled, 

where the documentation should be 

retained, and that documentation should be 

retained for at least 2 years after the date of 

the trip.

For each use of government aircraft, 

required that data on the aircraft tail 

number, the date(s) used, the names of the 

pilot and flight crew, the purpose of the 

flight, and the names of all passengers be 

retained for at least 2 years.

1992 GAO recommendation OMB action 
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We reviewed a sample of mission requests that were reviewed by OSD 

(Executive Secretary) and found that the justifications generally complied 

with requirements outlined in OMB Circular A-126, the White House 

memorandums, and DOD Regulation 4515.13-R regarding the use of 

government aircraft.

DOD Has Not 

Collected 

Reimbursements or 

Properly Accounted for 

Them

Implementation of policies over the billing and reimbursement process for 

89th Airlift Wing usage is inadequate. Problems included (1) a lack of agency 

reimbursements to DOD for 89th Airlift Wing flights, (2) improper crediting 

of funds that were reimbursed, (3) record-keeping that generally prevented 

verification of transactions, and (4) inadequate instructions on how staff 

are to meet billing and reimbursement responsibilities. We identified 

inadequate instructions as a problem in our 1992 report as well. 

Some Agency 

Reimbursements Are

6 Years in Arrears

DOD acknowledged that it had not consistently collected agency 

reimbursements due for reimbursable missions. On the basis of our inquiry, 

DOD discovered that reimbursements had not been collected for 63 

missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing, some occurring as long ago as 1993.4

We estimated that DOD is owed about $1.9 million from non-DOD agencies 

for the 63 reimbursable missions. No one independently verified that all 

agency reimbursements due were actually collected. Moreover, the Air 

Mobility Command was not aware that any mission bills were in arrears, 

even though the funds are to be credited to the Command’s O&M account. 

The Air Force inquired into the billing problem and by June 1999, DFAS had 

already sent bills for most of the outstanding reimbursements. As of July 

1999, DFAS indicated that some reimbursements have been received. Also, 

at the time of our review, the Office of Special Air Missions had begun to 

develop a procedure to prevent a future recurrence of the problem. The 

plan was still being developed at the time of this report.

4

Some agency reimbursements were collected between 1993 and 1996.
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Some Nonofficial Traveler 

Reimbursements Have Not 

Been Properly Accounted 

for

Agencies that permit nonofficial travelers, such as news media 

representatives, on their nonreimbursable 89th Airlift Wing missions are to 

bill such travelers and collect the reimbursements. The Air Mobility 

Command reported that it had received about $7.9 million in both agency 

and nonofficial passenger reimbursements in fiscal years 1993-98.

While DOD has collected reimbursements for nonofficial travel, DFAS 

officials have sometimes credited the wrong fiscal year accounts. Agencies 

that have collected nonofficial traveler reimbursements sent the funds to 

DFAS’ Omaha Operating Location for crediting to the proper Air Mobility 

Command fiscal year O&M account. However, because the agencies did not 

notify DFAS of the mission dates, DFAS had to rely on the agencies to 

specify the fiscal year account into which to credit the funds. For example, 

OSD (Public Affairs) collected and remitted reimbursements but was 

unaware that the accounting code the office must report to DFAS for 

proper funds handling also instructs DFAS which fiscal year account the 

funds should be credited to. OSD (Public Affairs) incorrectly instructed 

DFAS to credit the fiscal year 1997 account with reimbursements for fiscal 

years 1998 and 1999 nonofficial travel. As a result, DFAS credited at least 

$106,000 in reimbursements for fiscal years 1998 and 1999 nonofficial travel 

to the fiscal year 1997 account. 

The Economy Act requires reimbursements to be credited to the agency 

appropriation or fund used to provide service to another agency. Since the 

89th Airlift Wing’s flight operations are funded with an annual O&M 

appropriation, reimbursements must be credited to the appropriate Air 

Force O&M account for the fiscal year in which the travel took place. Thus, 

the fiscal year 1998 reimbursements should be credited to the fiscal year 

1998 account; fiscal year 1999 reimbursements should be credited to the 

fiscal year 1999 account. Properly crediting these reimbursements to the 

current fiscal year appropriation account allows the Air Mobility Command 

to use those funds for a variety of O&M-based spending needs in the 

current fiscal year. However, if DFAS inappropriately credits 

reimbursements to a prior year account, the use of the funds is 

unnecessarily restricted because they may then only be used toward 

obligations incurred in that prior year. 

We found other errors as well. For example, OSD (Public Affairs) 

instructed DFAS to credit about $57,000 to the Air Mobility Command’s 

O&M account for nonofficial travelers that accompanied the Secretary of 

Defense on four trips in 1998. However, these trips were taken on aircraft 

operated by the Air Combat Command and assigned to the 55th Wing, Offutt 
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Air Force Base, Nebraska. Therefore, the funds should have been credited 

to an Air Combat Command account, not an Air Mobility Command 

account. 

No one independently verified that all reimbursements were made. For 

example, Air Mobility Command officials told us they have not monitored 

DFAS billing and reimbursement operations and were surprised when we 

brought to their attention the improper crediting of some reimbursements. 

Moreover, DFAS has not received passenger manifests from the 89th Airlift 

Wing, thus missing an opportunity for independent verification that all 

nonofficial traveler reimbursements due are actually collected.

Transactions Are Not 

Readily Verifiable

We could not verify the receipt and crediting of some nonofficial traveler 

reimbursements because DFAS’ record-keeping procedures do not permit 

full verification of all transactions. DOD Directive 7000.14-R stipulates that 

accounting methods must permit transactions to be traced for verification. 

However, DFAS commingled numerous individual reimbursement checks 

on a single cash collection voucher. While convenient, the practice 

undermines effective management controls by preventing verification that 

all transactions were properly completed. Due to the commingling of 

individual reimbursement checks, we could not determine whether DFAS 

properly processed all 89th Airlift Wing reimbursements from nonofficial 

travelers. 

Billing Instructions Are 

Inadequate

At the time of our review, the billing process through which DOD should 

have collected reimbursements from non-DOD agencies for 89th Airlift Wing 

missions had stopped functioning. DOD had not issued adequate billing 

instructions, but the process worked to some extent prior to 1997 anyway, 

possibly because experienced officials were in place. By 1997, the agency 

billing process had come to a halt, possibly due to a lack of adequate 

documentation of the process and some significant, nearly simultaneous 

personnel changes. Moreover, OSD (Public Affairs) similarly lacked 

adequate instructions on how its staff was to handle the transactions and 

instruct DFAS where to credit the funds, with the result that some funds 

were incorrectly credited. We identified a similar lack of instructions in 

OSD (Public Affairs) in 1992.
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Recommendation We recommend that the Secretary of Defense document the Department’s 

billing and reimbursement process with written instructions or other 

guidance and ensure that all DOD components involved in the process 

comply with DOD accounting and financial management requirements to 

record transactions in a manner that permits verification of the proper 

handling of the funds.

Agency Comments and 

Our Evaluation

DOD and OMB provided written comments on a draft of this report (see 

apps. I and II). DOD concurred with our recommendation and stated that it 

is working to incorporate the reimbursement process into the proper 

guidance. DOD also stated that DFAS was collecting overdue 

reimbursements at the time of our report. OMB stated that the report 

identifies some important weaknesses in the accounting and collection of 

reimbursements for non-DOD use of 89th Airlift Wing aircraft. In addition, 

DOD provided technical comments that we incorporated as appropriate. 

Scope and 

Methodology

Because most of the missions flown by the 89th Airlift Wing are in support 

of the executive branch, we focused our analysis on the changes made to 

executive branch guidance concerning the use of government-owned 

aircraft, such as OMB Circular A-126 and other relevant DOD and White 

House implementing guidance.

To determine whether changes to executive branch policies since 1992 

addressed the intent of our recommendations, we met with OMB officials 

and obtained the 1989 and 1992 versions of OMB Circular A-126, Improving 

the Management and Use of Government Aircraft. We also met with 

officials from OSD (Executive Secretary); OSD (Legislative Affairs); and 

the Office of Special Air Missions, Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force, in 

Washington, D.C., and from the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews Air Force Base, 

Maryland. These officials also provided us with DOD or Air Force 

directives, guidance, policy statements, mission request records, mission 

approval memorandums, correspondence, and other documents. To 

determine how the policies have changed since our April 1992 report, we 

compared versions of the various guidance documents in force as of April 

1992 with any amendments or other changes since that time and 

characterized the substance of the changes. 

To determine whether justifications for wing usage complied with 

applicable policies, we interviewed the same officials to determine the 
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procedures they followed to review 89th Airlift Wing mission requests. We 

reviewed a sample of non-DOD reimbursable mission requests to 

determine whether guidance and directives were adhered to in the review 

and approval of these mission requests. We also met with officials from the 

Office of the Secretary of State to determine the basis on which that agency 

decided whether to use military or commercial aircraft and the process 

they used to approve a request to DOD for transportation support.

To determine whether reimbursements for 89th Airlift Wing flights have 

been made, we met with officials and obtained documents from 

organizations that are responsible for key steps in the billing and 

reimbursement process. First, we met with the Office of Special Air 

Missions and the 89th Airlift Wing Comptroller. To determine how billing 

and reimbursements were processed, we met with officials from DOD and 

Department of State offices responsible for billing nonofficial passengers, 

including OSD (Personal Security), OSD (Public Affairs), and the Office of 

the Secretary of State. We also obtained billing records, documents 

showing reimbursement checks received from parties billed, cash 

collection vouchers, transmittal documents showing fund transfers to 

DFAS, and other documents. We compared a sample of passenger 

manifests from 89th Airlift Wing missions with bills or check receipts to 

determine whether nonofficial passengers had been billed and 

reimbursements had been made to DOD for the missions, as required by 

OMB Circular A-126 and other guidance.

To determine whether DFAS or the Air Mobility Command had sent bills 

and collected reimbursements for agency missions, we obtained 89th Airlift 

Wing flight records and compared them with agency mission requests to 

determine which missions were reimbursable. We also met with officials at 

DFAS’ Omaha Operating Location in Nebraska to discuss the billing and 

reimbursement process and obtained guidance on handling billings and 

reimbursements. To determine whether bills had been sent and 

reimbursements collected, we obtained billing records, cash collection 

vouchers, copies of checks, deposit records, and other documents. Finally, 

we met with officials from the Air Mobility Command in Illinois to 

determine how they monitored the billing and reimbursement process and 

verified that funds deposited by DFAS were credited to the proper Air 

Mobility Command accounts. We also verified DFAS records as we deemed 

necessary. We did not evaluate the data used to set reimbursement rates 

that DOD charged non-DOD agencies traveling on reimbursable 89th Airlift 

Wing missions.
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To provide the background information showing which agencies of the 

government were the most frequent users of the 89th Airlift Wing, we 

obtained flight records showing every 89th Airlift Wing mission between 

January 1, 1993, and February 8, 1999. We counted as White House missions 

all missions for which the flight records indicated that the White House was 

the sponsoring agency. Thus, we counted as White House missions those 

for which the President traveled or other departments’ or agencies’ officials 

traveled at the President’s direction except State Department missions, 

which we identified separately whether or not they were presidentially 

directed.

We did not review the use of helicopters in the 89th Airlift Wing’s inventory. 

We conducted our work from January to July 1999 in accordance with 

generally accepted government auditing standards.

We will send copies of this report to interested congressional committees; 

Mr. John Podesta, the White House Chief of Staff, Executive Office of the 

President; the Honorable William S. Cohen, the Secretary of Defense; the 

Honorable Louis Caldera, the Secretary of the Army; the Honorable 

Richard Danzig, the Secretary of the Navy; the Honorable F. Whitten Peters, 

the Secretary of the Air Force; the Honorable Madeleine K. Albright, the 

Secretary of State; and the Honorable Jacob J. Lew, Director of the Office 

of Management and Budget.

Please contact me at (202) 512-5140 if you or your staff have any questions 

about this report. Other key contributors on this assignment are listed in 

appendix III.

Sincerely yours,

Mark E. Gebicke

Director, National Security 

 Preparedness Issues
Page 14 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft

Contents

Letter 1

Appendix I

Comments From the 

Department of Defense

16

Appendix II

Comments From the 

Office of Management 

and Budget

17

Appendix III

GAO Staff 

Acknowledgments

18

Related Products 20

Tables Table 1: The 89th Airlift Wing’s Inventory of Fixed-Wing Aircraft 2

Table 2: Usage of the 89th Airlift Wing by Agency 3

Table 3: Actions Responding to Our 1992 Recommendations 6

Abbreviations

DFAS Defense Finance and Accounting Service

DOD Department of Defense

O&M Operations and Maintenance

OMB Office of Management and Budget

OSD Office of the Secretary of Defense
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Page 16 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft

Appendix I

Comments From the Department of Defense ApenIdxi
Page 17 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft

Appendix II

Comments From the Office of Management 

and Budget ApendxIi
Page 18 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft

Appendix III

GAO Staff Acknowledgments ApenIdxi

Acknowledgments Carol R. Schuster, William M. Solis, Brian J. Lepore, Andrew D. Crawford, 

and Arthur L. James, Jr., made key contributions to this report.
Page 19 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft
Page 20 GAO/NSIAD-99-170 Military Aircraft

Related Products

Government Aircraft Travel of Government Officials on Government Aircraft

(GAO/T-NSIAD-96-85, Dec. 29, 1995).

Government Aircraft: Observations on Travel by Senior Officials

(GAO/NSIAD-95-168BR, June 5, 1995).

Military Aircraft: Travel on 89th Military Airlift Wing and Travel by Selected

Officials (GAO/T-NSIAD-92-35, Apr. 30, 1992).

Military Aircraft: Policies on Government Officials’ Use of 89th Military

Airlift Wing Aircraft (GAO/NSIAD-92-133, Apr. 9, 1992).

Military Aircraft: Travel by Selected Executive Branch Officials

(GAO/AFMD-92-51, Apr. 7, 1992).

Department of Defense 

Financial Operations

Financial Management: Profile of Defense Finance and Accounting Service

Financial Managers (GAO/AIMD-98-133, May 28, 1998).

Financial Management: An Overview of Finance and Accounting Activities

in DOD (GAO/NSIAD/AIMD-97-61, Feb. 19, 1997).

High Risk Series: Defense Financial Management (GAO/HR-97-3, Feb. 1, 

1997).

DOD Infrastructure: DOD’s Planned Finance and Accounting Structure Is

Not Well Justified (GAO/NSIAD-95-127, Sept. 18, 1995).

(703258) Letr
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