Congress established the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCESRC) on October 30, 2000, through Public Law No. 106-398, which transferred to USCESRC the facilities, material, and staff of the U.S. Trade Deficit Review Commission. According to the commission’s charter, USCESRC must monitor and assess the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. It must report results of its work in annual reports to Congress, addressing specific economic and security issue areas. The commission has had an annual budget of about $3 million since fiscal year 2005 and has requested an additional $1 million to fund its operations in fiscal year 2008. Appendix III provides additional details on the commission’s appropriations and expenditures. The commission consists of 12 commissioners, all but 3 of whom hold other positions. The leadership of the Senate and the House of Representatives appoint the commissioners to serve 2-year terms, which are staggered. In turn, the commissioners select a chairman and vice chairman from among themselves. The chairman and vice chairman rotate between Democratic and Republican appointees every year. Currently, a Democratic appointee is serving as chairman and a Republican appointee as vice chairman. The commission meets at the call of the chairman. A majority of commissioners must be present for the commission to conduct business. Appendix II depicts a timeline of commission-related events, including the election dates of all of the chairmen and vice chairmen since the inception of the commission. Each commissioner is compensated at an hourly rate computed from the annual rate of basic pay prescribed for level IV of the Executive Schedule (ES-IV). Generally, the commissioners submit a signed statement of hours worked on commission activities for a given pay period, and they are reimbursed for that time. However, a commissioner may not be reimbursed more than the annual rate of pay for an ES-IV in a given fiscal year, which was $143,000 for fiscal year 2006. The commissioners are supported by an executive director, and program and administrative support staff. The current executive director is a senior executive detailed from the Department of Commerce to the commission under a reimbursable agreement. Nine of the 11 staff are excepted service federal employees, who have 1-year appointments and serve at the discretion of the commission. Two administrative staff, including the associate director, work for the commission under 1-year personal service contracts. To produce its report, the commission undertakes activities such as holding hearings, conducting research, and traveling on fact-finding missions to China and other countries. At the direction of the commission, a commissioner or commissioners may hold hearings. Currently, at least one Democratic appointee and one Republican appointee co-chair each hearing. For example, the commission held 14 hearings in 2005 and 8 hearings in 2006 and plans to hold 8 hearings in 2007. Also, the commission relied on internal research from its professional staff and commission-sponsored external research by subject matter experts. The commission has not fully complied with the statutory requirements set forth in its charter. The commission has covered the required economic and security issue areas in its reports. However, since it was established in 2000, the commission has issued all of its annual reports after the required deadline and failed to issue an annual report in 2003. According to the commission’s charter, the commission is required to submit an annual report to Congress no later than June 1. The commission submitted interim reports to Congress in 2006 and 2007 in an effort to comply with this deadline. Further, the commission has implemented those FACA provisions it is capable of applying. The commission has complied with its statutory charter with regard to the subjects on which it reports and the scope of its activities. The commission has broad discretion to examine matters related to U.S.-China economic and security issue areas. Since the commission was established in 2000, Congress amended the statutory charter twice to modify the language related to the scope of its activities. We compared the mandated issue areas and annual report contents and found the commission’s annual reports covered the statutory economic and security issue areas. Despite statutory changes to the charter over time to narrow the number and extent of reporting topics, the commission has broad discretion on what specific matters to examine. The commission has the authority to interpret its own regulations and statute. The commission’s statutory charter was amended three times, and the second and third amendments modified the number of issue areas and revised the language related to the scope of the economic and security issue areas. The statutory charter originally mandated that the commission’s annual report “include, at a minimum, a full discussion of” the 10 issue areas. In 2003, the second amendment to the commission’s charter reduced the number of issue areas from 10 to 9 and revised the language related to the scope of reporting to instruct the commission to “focus, in lieu of any other areas of work or study” on the 9 issue areas. In 2005, the third amendment to the commission’s charter reduced the number of issue areas from 9 to 8 and revised the language related to the scope of reporting to instruct the commission to “investigate and report exclusively on each of the following” 8 issue areas. Table 1 compares the issue areas the commission is mandated to report on in the annual report. Our analysis of the content covered in the commission’s four public annual reports found that the economic and security issue areas were covered as required. We found the commission’s 2002 annual report covered the 10 economic and security issue areas mandated at the time. Some chapters address more than one reporting requirement and are listed multiple times. Furthermore, chapter 4 of the 2002 annual report covers political and civil freedoms, which was not a specified issue area but was within the scope of reporting because the charter originally mandated the commission’s annual report “include, at a minimum,” the 10 issue areas. Appendix IV provides details on the issue areas covered by the commission’s 2002 annual report. We found the commission’s 2004 and 2005 annual reports covered the 9 economic and security issue areas mandated at the time. Appendix V provides details on the 9 issue areas covered by the commission’s 2004 and 2005 annual reports. We found the commission’s 2006 annual report covered the 8 economic and security issue areas currently mandated. See table 2 for the 8 issue areas covered by the commission’s 2006 annual report. According to the chairman, the commissioners discuss the mandate in relation to the scope of activities and reporting. Furthermore, the commissioners discuss the scope of the issue areas identified in the commission’s statutory charter before reaching consensus on the annual work plan. While acknowledging that the mandate restricts the scope of reporting to the eight issue areas, several commissioners noted that they sometimes debate what the commission should cover under these areas because they leave room for interpretation. The chairman stated that the commissioners use the issue areas to plan commission activities, including research, hearings, and overseas trips. The commission has broad discretion to conduct activities to fulfill its reporting requirement and can base its reports on a variety of activities. During the commission’s quarterly business meetings at the conclusion of one calendar year and the beginning of the next, commissioners discuss the scope of activities identified by the commission’s statutory charter and reach consensus on the annual work plan. According to its statutory charter, the commission can hold hearings, conduct internal and external research, secure relevant information from U.S. departments and agencies through classified and unclassified briefings, and carry out fact-finding missions abroad. For example, the commission used all of these methods to collect information for the 2006 annual report. Specifically, the commission held eight public hearings on the required economic and security related issue areas and delivered a letter to Congress summarizing significant findings and providing interim recommendations after each. The commission authorized external research contracts on issues, such as China’s antisatellite and space warfare activities and China’s oil and gas investments abroad. The commission received briefings from several U.S. agencies, such as the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. An official commission delegation conducted a fact-finding mission to China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in June 2006. During the 2007 reporting cycle, the commission has held five public hearings as of July 2007 and plans to hold three others through September 2007. All examine topics related to the eight mandated economic and security issue areas. The commission also plans to award external research contracts. For example, the commission recently selected a proposal submitted in response to an advertised request for proposals (RFP) and awarded a contract providing for a report tracing the parts and components supply chains for three key U.S. weapon systems. Throughout 2007, the commission plans to receive classified and unclassified briefings from U.S. departments, agencies, and the intelligence community. A commission delegation traveled to China and Hong Kong in April 2007, and another delegation of commissioners and staff traveled to Taiwan and India in August 2007. Since its inception, the commission has failed to submit its annual report to Congress in time to comply with the statutory reporting deadline. The commission’s charter requires the commission to submit its annual report to Congress no later than June 1 each year. The commission has issued its annual reports late or, in one instance for reasons discussed below, not at all. The commission was established in October 2000 and was not required to submit its first report until March 1, 2002. The charter was amended on November 12, 2001, to change the report issuance date to June 1, 2002. Congress modified the reporting date from March to June because, according to a former executive director, the commission “was getting organized and it would have been difficult to produce a report by March.” Even with the congressional amendment extending the reporting date 3 additional months, the commission issued its 2002 annual report on July 15, 2002. Our analysis of the commission’s annual report issuance dates reveals inconsistent submission dates, with longer delays in 2005 and 2006. For example, the delays in the issuance dates ranged from 9 days in 2004 to 161 days in 2005. The final 2006 report was issued to Congress 151 days after the deadline.