On January 29, 2001, you wrote us that you had become increasingly concerned about media reports of damage to the White House and the EEOB that was discovered by the incoming Bush administration and asked that we investigate whether damage may have been deliberately caused by former Clinton administration staff. We subsequently asked EOP and the General Services Administration (GSA) whether they had any information that may be responsive to your request. On April 18, 2001, the director of the Office of Administration (OA), an EOP unit, wrote us a letter indicating that the White House had no record of damage that “may have been deliberately caused by employees of the prior dministration” and that “.…repair records do not contain information that would allow someone to determine the cause of damage that is being repaired.” In late May and early June 2001, these allegations resurfaced in the news media and on June 4, you asked us to investigate the matter further. On June 5, 2001, the counsel to the president provided us with a list of damage that was discovered in the White House complex during the first days of the Bush administration. In his transmittal letter, the counsel to the president said that the list “…may be responsive to your earlier request for written records documenting damage deliberately caused by employees of the prior dministration….” Further, the counsel said that the list was not the result of a comprehensive or systematic investigation into the issue and should not be considered a complete record of the damage that was found. The list was prepared by OA, which provides common administrative support and services to units within the White House complex, which may include the procurement and maintenance of computers, telephones, furniture, and other personal property. OA prepared the list on the basis of the recollections of five EOP officials with responsibilities in the areas of administration, management, telephones, facilities, and supplies. It listed missing building fixtures, such as doorknobs and a presidential seal; computer keyboards with missing “W” keys; damaged and overturned furniture; telephone lines pulled from the wall; telephones with missing telephone number labels; fax machines moved to the wrong areas and a secure telephone left open with the key in it; offices left in a state of “general trashing,” including the contents of desk drawers dumped on the floor, a glass desk top smashed and on the floor, and refrigerators unplugged with spoiled food; writing on the walls; and voice mail greetings that had obscene messages. The list also indicated that six to eight 14-foot trucks were needed to recover usable supplies that had been thrown away. The EOP consists of a number of units, including the White House Office, the Office of the Vice President, the National Security Council (NSC), and OA. The White House Office is composed of staff who directly support and advance the president’s goals and are commonly referred to as “White House staff.” Offices of the White House Office include, but are not limited to, advance, cabinet affairs, communications, counsel, the first lady, legislative affairs, management and administration, political affairs, presidential personnel, press secretary, public liaison, and scheduling. Although White House Office staff generally leave their positions at the end of an administration, many EOP staff at agencies such as the NSC and OA hold their positions during consecutive administrations. In this report, we referred to staff who are working or worked in the White House complex during the current administration as “EOP staff” and staff who worked in the previous administration and no longer worked in the White House complex after January 20, 2001, as “former Clinton administration staff.” The White House complex consists of several buildings, including the White House, the adjacent EEOB, and the New Executive Office Building (NEOB). This report focuses on observations that were made in the West Wing of the White House and the EEOB during the transition, and not the White House residence or the NEOB. Excluding military staff, most White House Office staff work in the East and West Wings of the White House or the EEOB. GSA maintains the White House office space, including cleaning the offices and repairing the physical structure. OA asks GSA to repair furniture in the White House complex. Some EOP agencies, such as the Office of the Vice President, also handle some of their own administrative functions. The Secret Service, a unit of the Department of the Treasury, is responsible for the security of the White House complex and its occupants. To obtain information regarding observations of damage, vandalism, and pranks, we interviewed the five EOP officials who contributed to the June 2001 list (the OA director, the OA associate director for facilities management, the OA associate director for general services, the management office director, and the telephone service director); the OA associate director for information systems and technology; an on-site manager for a contractor providing telecommunications services in the White House complex; the Secret Service deputy special agent in charge, presidential protection division, White House security branch; the director of GSA’s White House service center; the chief usher for the executive residence; and four GSA cleaning crew leaders who worked in the White House complex during the transition. We also sent letters to 518 EOP staff who worked in the West Wing and EEOB during the first 3 weeks of the Bush administration, asking those who observed any damage, vandalism, or pranks during the weeks surrounding the 2001 transition to arrange a meeting with us through the Office of White House Counsel. We believed that staff who were in the complex during the first 3 weeks of the administration were the most likely staff to have observed damage, vandalism, or pranks. The Office of White House Counsel arranged for interviews with a total of 78 EOP staff, and an associate counsel to the president was present during our interviews with EOP staff. Of the 78 staff, 23 worked for the EOP before January 20, 2001, and 55 began working for the EOP on or after January 20. The interviews with EOP staff were conducted between June 2001 and May 2002. Because these interviews were conducted between 5 and 16 months after the transition, we recognize that recollections could have been imprecise. It was not possible to determine whether, in all cases, the reported incidents had occurred, when they occurred, why they occurred, and who may have been responsible for them. More detailed information about our methodology in reporting the observations is contained in appendix I. To determine if any documentation existed that may not have been previously located, we asked the EOP, GSA, and the Secret Service to provide any documentation they had regarding damage or theft reports, requests for repairs, and invoices for items that had to be purchased. In a June 6, 2001, letter to an associate counsel to the president, we said that “we will need access to any records and documents maintained by the White House, GSA, the Secret Service, or other organizations at the White House that relate to the alleged damage as well as to federal employees and contractors working at the White House who might have information bearing on the allegations.” We also interviewed a total of 29 GSA staff who prepared the office space for the new administration. In addition, we interviewed two National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) staff who worked in the White House complex to assemble presidential materials during the last days of the Clinton administration about their observations; a contract employee who helped discard keyboards from the EOP after the transition; and an official from the White House Communications Agency (WHCA), which handles communications equipment for the White House. After interviewing EOP and GSA staff about their observations, we interviewed a total of 72 former Clinton administration staff to obtain their comments on the allegations during the 2001 transition and to obtain their observations about the 1993 transition. We interviewed 35 former Clinton administration staff who were identified by the senior advisor for presidential transition during the Clinton administration as having worked in the White House complex during the 1993 or 2001 transitions. We also contacted an additional 37 former Clinton administration staff because they were former directors, managers, or representatives from the primary offices where observations were made. We did not, however, obtain comments from former Clinton administration staff regarding every observation. Of the 72 former Clinton administration staff we interviewed, 67 worked in the White House complex during the 2001 transition and 19 worked there during the 1993 transition. Five of the 72 former Clinton administration staff we interviewed left before the end of the administration, but had worked in the White House complex during the 1993 transition. We obtained repair or replacement costs for some of the observed incidents. However, as explained in more detail later in this report, we did not request cost information associated with all of the observations because we did not believe certain costs would be material or readily available. We also believed that the effort that would have been needed to obtain and verify cost data for all observed incidents would not have been commensurate with the benefit of having reported the information. Further, although certain repair and replacement costs were provided, it was unclear what portion of these costs was incurred or will be incurred due to vandalism. To determine how the 2001 presidential transition compared with others in terms of damage, we asked 14 EOP and 2 GSA staff who worked in the White House complex during previous transitions about their recollections of damage, vandalism, or pranks during previous transitions. In addition, we reviewed news media reports to identify any reported damage, vandalism, or pranks during previous transitions. We searched for news reports concerning the 1981, 1989, and 1993 transitions. We assessed what steps could be taken to help prevent and document any damage during future presidential transitions by discussing the issue with GSA and EOP officials and by obtaining the check-out procedures for departing Clinton administration staff.