# Government Accountability Office (GAO) Podcast: Watchdog Report

Featuring interviews with GAO officials on significant issues and new reports, the Watchdog Report is recorded, hosted, and produced by GAO staff.

- Our First-Of-A-Kind Estimate of Fraud in the Federal Government Our new report estimates, for the first time, the direct financial losses from fraud across federal programs and operations. GAO looked at a recent 5-year period and is estimating annual losses from fraud to be between $233 and $521 billion dollars...
- F-35 Costs More and Maybe Used Less The F-35 Lightning II aircraft is the military&amp;#039;s most advanced stealth fighter. It&amp;#039;s the Department of Defense&amp;#039;s most ambitious and costly weapons system. The military currently has about 600 of these jets with plans to buy nearly...
- Each State has Its Own Move Over Law, But Many Drivers Don't Know About Them The first Move Over law originated in 1996 in South Carolina. Today, every state has its own law. But despite this, many drivers don’t know about them. We learn more about efforts to get the word out from GAO’s Elizabeth &amp;quot;Biza&amp;quot; Repko.
- Lack of Sleep Among Active Duty Military Contributes to Millions of Dollars in Damage and Service Member Deaths We expect our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines to be combat ready. But sleep deprivation and fatigue can dramatically reduce readiness, and fatigue has been connected to accidents that have resulted in deaths, as well as hundreds of millions of...
- At-Home Testing Tools for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and Other Neurodegenerative Diseases At-home testing tools may aid early detection of neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer&amp;#039;s and Parkinson&amp;#039;s, and be more cost effective for patients. In a new report, a Science &amp;amp; Tech Spotlight, we looked at the status of this at-home...
- COVID-19 Battered the Aviation Industry, Is the US Prepared if it Happens Again? U.S. commercial airline traffic dropped 96% during peak pandemic times. In response, the federal government (the taxpayers) provided $132 billion in financial assistance to the industry and related businesses. Today, the industry has largely...
- Oversight of Defense and Security Assistance to Ukraine Congress has approved $113 billion dollars in aid for Ukraine. Today, GAO is issuing the first in a series of reports--requested by Congress--about the use and oversight of this assistance. Today’s report specifically looks at defense and security...
- Combating Deepfakes We&amp;#039;re seeing more deepfakes on social media and in the news. These are videos, audio or images that have been manipulated using artificial intelligence. What&amp;#039;s being done to combat these fakes? We find out from GAO&amp;#039;s Brian Bothwell.
- Is Head Start--An Important Program for Children in Poverty--Reaching All Who Need It? Head Start is an important program that supports earlylearning and development in young children (from birth to 5), who livein poverty. Nearly 800,000 young children were enrolled in Head Startprograms during the 2021-2022 school year. But many...
- Active-Duty Military Can Face Long Wait Times for Even Urgent Mental Health Care Serving in the military, especially combat, may carry a psychological cost for active-duty service members. If left untreated, behavioral health conditions--such as mental health and substance use disorders-- can worsen with consequences for the...
- Meet Our New Chief Economist Here at GAO, we recognize economic trends can changequickly and have major impacts on Americans. We publish reports andprovide technical assistance to Congress to help members understandthese emerging issues and their potential policy options. On...
- The Growing Need for Cyber Diplomacy The U.S. and its allies face growing cyber threats from adversaries and individuals looking to undermine our democracies, institutions, and economies. These include threats from nations like China and Russia. In a new report, we looked at recent...
- We Tested Prenatal Supplements to See What's in Them--Here's What We Found Many pregnant people take prenatal vitamins to promote healthy pregnancies and babies. But these widely used supplements are not subject to the same scrutiny for safety and labeling as prescription drugs. For a new report, we looked at whether some...
- Artificial Intelligence in Severe Weather and Wildfire Modeling As weather-related events--like hurricanes and wildfires--become more frequent and severe, meteorologists and others are looking for new ways to forecast these events. GAO&amp;#039;s Brian Bothwell joins us to share his new report on the role artificial...
- Spending Under Medicaid Managed Care is Growing Rapidly--Here's Why Medicaid is the government&amp;#039;s program that helps low income, medically needy, populations receive health care services. Within Medicaid, managed care allows beneficiaries to receive these services from a network of approved providers. Spending...
- Meet GAO’s New Chief Scientist GAO publishes reports and provides technical assistance to Congress to help members understand the emerging technology and science issues and potential policy options. We recently named a new chief scientist to help lead this work. Met our new Chief...
- Federal Response to Cyber-based Attacks Cyber-based attacks on federal systems have become more damaging and disruptive. Federal agencies are required to secure their IT systems from these attacks. GAO&amp;#039;s Jennifer Franks joins us to look at our new report on the federal government...
- High-Risk Radioactive Material Disposal Radioactive materials are commonly used for medical, industrial and research purposes. But after use, what&amp;#039;s being done to ensure radioactive materials are disposed of safely. In a new report, we look at these concerns. GAO&amp;#039;s Allison...
- Public Health Preparedness--Building and Maintaining Infrastructure Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic At the beginning of the pandemic, we heard a lot about shortages of hospital beds, ventilators, testing supplies, as well as doctors and nurses. GAO has reported heavily on the impacts of not being prepared for a pandemic. But in a new report, we...
- Early Childhood Development--Challenges Providing and Accessing Services Parents know that the first few years of a child&amp;#039;s life include so many critical milestones. During those first few years, it&amp;#039;s critical to identify any developmental delays a child might have and provide early intervention services. The...
- What More Should the U.S. Do to Prevent Transitional Repression? Some foreign governments have harassed, abducted, threatened, or even assassinated U.S.-based individuals in an effort to silence their criticism. Prominent examples of transnational repression like this include the 2018 murder of journalist Jamal...
- As NASA Plans Its Return to the Moon, Greater Visibility Into Spending Could Help Address Cost Concern When NASA launched Artemis I last November, it used the world&amp;#039;s most powerful rocket. The same rocket design, or Space Launch System, will be used in the Artemis II and III missions, with the goal of returning Americans to the moon for the...
- State and Local Efforts to Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Vehicles Greenhouse gas emissions are a major contributor to climate change. The largest source of emissions in the U.S. is transportation occurring on our nation’s roadways, which are owned and run by state and local governments. We learn more about the...
- Shift from Corporations to Partnerships Causes Challenges for IRS Audits Businesses are increasingly shifting their legal structuresfrom corporations-- that are subject to corporate income taxes--topartnerships. This shift has made it more difficult for the IRS toidentify taxable income and catch potential tax cheats...
- Unemployment Insurance Delays Caused by Old Computer IT Unemployment Insurance programs saw unprecedented increases in demand during the pandemic. But despite this increase, many Americans were extremely frustrated when they tried to apply facing delays and other issues in accessing this essential safety...