GPRA is intended to shift the focus of government decisionmaking, management, and accountability from activities and processes to the results and outcomes achieved by federal programs. New and valuable information on the plans, goals, and strategies of federal agencies has been provided since federal agencies began implementing GPRA. Under GPRA, annual performance plans are to clearly inform the Congress and the public of (1) the annual performance goals for agencies’ major programs and activities, (2) the measures that will be used to gauge performance, (3) the strategies and resources required to achieve the performance goals, and (4) the procedures that will be used to verify and validate performance information. These annual plans, issued soon after the transmittal of the president’s budget, provide a direct linkage between an agency’s longer-term goals and mission and day-to-day activities. Annual performance reports are to report on the degree to which performance goals were met. The issuance of the agencies’ performance reports, due by March 31 each year, represents a new and potentially more substantive phase in the implementation of GPRA—the opportunity to assess federal agencies’ actual performance for the prior fiscal year and to consider what steps are needed to improve performance and reduce costs in the future. As the nation’s chief law enforcement agency, Justice is charged with, among other things, enforcing laws in the public interest and playing a key role in protecting the public from violence and criminal activity, such as drug smuggling and acts of terrorism. With a fiscal year 2001 budget of over $24 billion and a staff of about 111,000, including attorneys, investigators, and agents, Justice is a multifaceted organization whose functions range from securing the nation’s borders to helping state and local agencies improve their capacity to prevent and control crime. Justice’s responsibilities are divided among a number of major components, including the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), INS, the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), and the United States Marshals Service (USMS). This section discusses our analysis of Justice’s performance in achieving the selected key outcomes and the strategies it has in place, particularly strategic human capital management and information technology, when appropriate, for accomplishing these outcomes. In discussing these outcomes, we have also provided information drawn from our prior work on the extent to which the agency provided assurance that the performance information it is reporting is credible. Overall progress made by Justice toward achieving less drug- and gang- related violence is difficult to ascertain because (1) three of nine performance measures did not have fiscal year 2000 targets to measure success and (2) Justice fell short of achieving its performance targets for four measures. Justice did not set fiscal year 2000 performance targets for its performance related to dismantling Asian criminal enterprises, dismantling Eurasian criminal enterprises, and cases in Indian Country.Justice did not set performance targets for these measures because it considered two of the measures to be new measures, and for the number of cases in Indian Country, Justice did not want to set performance levels because it believes that setting performance targets could cause the public to perceive law enforcement as engaging in “bounty hunting” or pursuing arbitrary targets merely for the sake of meeting particular goals. In addition, even though Justice indicated that the performance measures for dismantling Asian and Eurasian criminal enterprises were new measures, these same measures were included in Justice’s fiscal year 1999 performance report (albeit Eurasian was called Russian then). Justice fell short of achieving the performance targets for four measures. For example, although close, Justice did not meet its performance target to perform 4.81 million criminal background checks. Justice reported that it had perfomed 4.49 million criminal background checks. Also, Justice did not meet its performance target to prevent 140,244 persons with criminal backgrounds from purchasing firearms. Justice reported it had prevented 71,890 ineligible persons from purchasing firearms. In its explanation of why it did not meet these performance targets, Justice noted that the reported targets for these measures were based on the assumption that all states and territories would be full participants in the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) program. Justice reported that only 27 states have become full participants since NICS began in November 1998. In an April 2000 report, we reported that the states generally are better positioned than the FBI to conduct background checks and that there are potential barriers to states participating in NICS. Justice’s performance report does not articulate the implications of potential barriers if the intent is for all states to participate. Although close, Justice also did not meet its performance measure to initiate 20,000 new Interpol cases or enter into 10 new mutual legal assistance treaties with other countries. Justice reported that in fiscal year 2000, it had initiated 19,549 new Interpol cases and entered into 8 treaties. Justice noted that it had not met its performance targets for these measures because there are a number of outside entities (such as, state liaison offices, foreign governments, the State Department, the White House, and the U.S. Senate) that have key roles in these efforts and that Justice has limited control over actions of these entities. However, Justice did not discuss any actions that it might take to mitigate the effects of external factors. Our February 1999 report also suggested that to improve the usefulness of annual plans, agencies show how strategies will be used to achieve goals that include describing approaches to leverage or mitigate the effects of external factors on the accomplishment of performance goals. For each performance measure, Justice included a brief explanation about data collection and storage, data validation and verification, and any known data limitations. There were data limitations associated with four of the databases used with the performance measures. Two of the data limitations appear to be more of a clarification rather than a limitation. The other two data limitation explanations were more significant. One limitation noted that a significant number of criminal history records were not complete and that state and local agencies and the courts needed to update and complete the records in a more timely manner. The performance report did not indicate actions or steps that might be taken to mitigate the data limitations with state and local agencies and the courts in order to improve the data’s reliability. For the other limitation, Justice reported that the current reporting system for the number of Interpol cases was severely limited. However, Justice reported that in fiscal year 2001 the database and procedures were to be validated for accuracy and redesigned for efficiency and that a comprehensive and flexible reporting system to extract the statistics from the database was to be developed. Justice’s strategies and initiatives to achieve less drug- and gang-related violence generally seem reasonable and clear. However, Justice could improve its performance strategies by exploring potential coordination efforts that might be used to mitigate external factors and by considering the use of performance evaluations to better assess its progress toward achieving the outcome. For example, on the basis of its fiscal year 2000 performance, Justice modified its fiscal year 2001 performance target from 5.05 million to 4.54 million for the number of criminal background checks performed. Modifying the performance target in the short term is a reasonable step; however, Justice may want to discuss what it has considered in response to only 27 states participating in the NICS since it began in November 1998 and whether other strategies to assist states are needed to achieve the outcome. As mentioned earlier, Justice did not have performance targets for one measure because of concerns about pursuing targets merely for the sake of meeting a goal. We suggest that Justice could compare the relative effectiveness of programs using a program evaluation approach to provide an indication of its progress towards achieving its goals. Specifically, Justice has a goal to provide enforcement assistance and training to tribal governments to combat and reduce the incidence of violent crime on Indian Reservations, especially crime related to gang activity. This is a performance measure for which Justice did not provide performance targets and that Justice reported the number of cases in Indian Country. A program evaluation for this goal could compare the difference in gang activity on reservations where assistance and training is provided with reservations where assistance and training have not been provided. While program evaluations will also be hampered by the lack of underlying data about the drug- and gang-related violence, they might provide some indications of the comparative effectiveness of different interdiction programs. Overall progress made by Justice toward achieving a reduction in the availability and/or use of illegal drugs is difficult to ascertain because it did not have fiscal year 2000 performance targets for two of five measures, and the relationship of one measure to the outcome was not clear. Justice did not have a performance target for measures related to drugs removed and its efforts to seize, dismantle, and dispose of clandestine laboratories. Justice indicated that the measure of the amount of drugs removed is to be discontinued because it does not adequately assess performance and is not results oriented. Justice explained that DEA could not estimate the amount of drugs to be removed by type because these vary from case to case. Rather, Justice reported that DEA seeks to investigate cases that will have the greatest impact on drug trafficking, drug-related crime, and violence and that drug seizures are merely a by-product of those investigations. Regarding not setting targets for its efforts to seize, dismantle, and dispose of clandestine laboratories, as previously noted, Justice does not want the public to perceive that it is pursuing arbitrary targets for the sake of meeting particular goals. Also, we noted that Justice’s fiscal year 2000 actual performance of 1,888 clandestine laboratories seized, dismantled, and disposed had decreased from its fiscal year 1999 actual performance of 2,024. According to Justice, it receives leads from state and local agencies or concerned citizens regarding the location of clandestine laboratories. The number of leads vary from year to year which results in a variance in the number of seizures in a given year. In addition, the performance report did not explain how positive responses for inquiries to Justice’s El Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) contributes toward achieving the outcome to reduce the availability of drugs.