of this power of removal in the Congress is unconstitutional and therefore I am unable to approve the bill. I am returning the bill at the earliest possible moment with the hope that the Congress may find time before adjournment to remedy this defect. THE WHITE HOUSE, June 4, 1920. WOODROW WILSON. EXHIBIT No. 8 B-133042 COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, The Honorable the SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE. DEAR MR. SECRETARY: The Defense Accounting and Auditing Division of this Office has begun a review of the research and development program of the Air Force. The basic objective of this review is to evaluate the effectiveness of Air Force policies, procedures, and management as they pertain to research and development activities. In order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the research and development activities, we have met with the Assistant Secretary (Research and Development); the Deputy Chief of Staff, Development; the Commander, Air Research and Development Center; and with members of their staffs. We have selected the ballistic missiles program for our initial review in the research and development field and our representatives are presently at the Ballistic Missiles Division in Inglewood, Calif. We understand that a report was recently prepared by the Inspector General covering a "Survey of Management of the Ballistic Missiles Program." In view of our current survey in the management aspects of the ballistic missiles program, we believe it would be mutually advantageous for our representatives to review this report and thereby minimize the duplication of work performed by the Inspector General's staff. Your cooperation is requested in providing a copy of the Inspector General's report on the Survey of Management of the Ballistic Missiles Program, covering the period January 14 to February 21, 1958, to the Defense Accounting and Auditing Division of this Office for use in connection with their current review at the Ballistic Missiles Division. Mr. Harold H. Rubin, Assistant Director, Defense Accounting and Auditing Division, may be contacted to arrange for receipt of this report. Sincerely yours, JOSEPH CAMPBELL, Comptroller General of the United States. EXHIBIT No. 9 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, B-133042 The Honorable the COMPTROLLER GENERAL. DEAR MR. COMPTROLLER GENERAL: Reference is made to your letter of June 13, 1958 (file No. B-133042), in which you requested that a copy of a report prepared by the Inspector General of the Air Force titled "Survey of Management of the Ballistic Missiles Program" be furnished to your office. As you know, Inspector General's reports are prepared solely for the use of responsible officials within the Department of the Air Force. It is of the utmost importance that the Military Department have the benefit of an inspection service which is capable of stern, impartial analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of its operations. I firmly believe that the goal of objective self-criticism can be attained only if the Inspector General's organization has the assurance that its reports will, without exception, be kept within this Department. In addition, the report which you requested is a report concerning the internal management of this Department, and it was prepared solely for the benefit and use of those officers and employees of this Department who are responsible for its administration. The release of such reports to persons outside the Department would have a serious adverse effect on the effective administration of the Department. These considerations compel me to conclude that the public interest would best be served by not releasing the report which you have requested. However, in order to render all possible assistance and cooperation to your organization consistent with the sound administration of this Department, I have requested that a summary of the findings of fact contained in the Inspector General's report be prepared and forwarded to your office. This summary should be available in the near future. Sincerely yours, JAMES H. DOUGLAS. EXHIBIT No. 10 DEPARTMENT OF THE AIR FORCE, The Honorable the COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES. DEAR MR. COMPTROLLER GENERAL: Reference is made to your letter of June 13, 1958 (file No. B-133042), and my letter to you dated July 30, 1958. The summary of the Inspector General's "Survey of Management of the Ballistic Missile Program" is hereby forwarded in accordance with your request. The problem areas which have been revealed during this survey are matters of continuing interest to this Department and will be kept under surveillance until corrected. Sincerely yours, EXHIBIT No. 11 JAMES H. DOUGLAS. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, B-107366 The Honorable the SECRETARY OF THE AIR FORCE. DEAR MR. SECRETARY: Your letter of July 30, 1958, stating that a copy of a report prepared by the Inspector General of the Air Force, covering a "Survey of Management of the Ballistic Missiles Program," cannot be released to the General Accounting Office, has been considered. For the reasons stated in the attached letter, we must consider your refusal to furnish the subject report to be contrary to congressional intent and purpose of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946, and the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950. Your refusal makes it impossible for the General Accounting Office to discharge its statutory responsibilities in the manner contemplated by the Congress. Because of the seriousness of this matter, we are informing the interested congressional committees and the Secretary of Defense of your decision. Sincerely yours, Enclosure. JOSEPH CAMPBELL, Comptroller General of the United States. COMPTROLLER GENERAL OF THE UNITED STATES, 7 B-107366 Hon. JOHN L. MCCLELLAN, Chairman, committee on Government Operations, U.S. Senate. DEAR MR. CHAIRMAN: The question of General Accounting Office access to records of the Department of Defense and the military departments has received extensive consideration by congressional committees in the past year. The matter has not been satisfactorily resolved, and we intend to report to the appropriate committees of Congress any cases involving a refusal by any execu tive agency to furnish, or unnecessary delay in furnishing, pertinent information or documentation. We have recently been refused access to an Air Force report. The facts are as follows: On June 13, 1958, we requested the Secretary of the Air Force to make available a copy of the Air Force inspector general's report covering a "Survey of Management of the Ballistic Missiles Program." The Defense Accounting and Auditing Division of this Office had previously begun a review of the administrative conduct and management of various Air Force activities under its research and development programs. Activities under the ballistic missiles program had been selected for initial study and, consequently, we asked to review the inspector general's report. No response to our request was received. Therefore we sent a followup letter to the Secretary of the Air Force on July 16, 1958, requesting information as to when the inspector general's report would be available. In reply dated July 30, 1958, copy enclosed, the Secretary of the Air Force stated that inspector general's reports are prepared solely for the use of responsible officials within the Department of the Air Force. He pointed out that the report which we had requested concerns the internal management of the Air Force and stated that release of such reports to persons outside the Department would have a serious adverse effect on the effective administration of the Department. He concluded that "the public interest would best be served by not releasing the report ** The Secretary advised, however, that a summary of the findings of the facts contained in the inspector general's report would be prepared and forwarded to this Office. On August 13, 1958, 60 days after our request, a summary of the inspector general's report was forwarded to this office. The summary report consists of a list of general conclusions in various areas of management and organization, budgeting and funding, procurement and contractual relationships. The summary does not include specific data on the operating conditions and management controls or a summary of the factual information on which the conclusions are based. The Secretary of the Air Force characterizes inspector general reports as fulfilling a need for "stern, impartial, analysis of the effectiveness and efficiency of its [the military department's] operations." The "Survey of Management of the Ballistic Missiles Program" was directed to determining the effectiveness and efficiency of various activities under the ballistic missiles program. It included appraisals of such activities as buying and contract administration, procedures for furnishing Government-owned facilities to contractors, administration of commercial leases, purchasing practices of Government contractors, and many other subjects of a general administrative nature as opposed to highly specialized scientific or technical matters. The effectiveness and economy of the foregoing activities are clearly of interest and concern to the General Accounting Office in the performance of its statutory responsibilities. The legislative history of the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921 made it clear that our examination of "all matters relating to the receipt, disbursement, and application of public funds" as provided in section 312(a) contemplated that we would consider and report on the economy, efficiency and effectiveness of agency activities. See also section 206 of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946 which authorizes and directs the Comptroller General to make an expenditure analysis of each agency in the executive branch of the Government which, in the opinion of the Comptroller General, will enable the Congress to determine whether public funds have been economically and effectively administered and expended. In order to carry out such work, section 313 of the 1921 act provides: "All departments and establishments shall furnish to the Comptroller General such information regarding the powers, duties, activities, organization, financial transactions, and methods of business of their respective offices as he may from time to time require of them; and the Comptroller General, or any of his assistants or employees, when duly authorized by him, shall, for the purpose of securing such information, have access to and the right to examine any books, documents, papers, or records of any such department or establishment * * *." The inspector general's reports of the type here involved are clearly subject to review by this Office. The Secretary refers to the restriction of inspector general reports to the use of Air Force officials only and to the need of such restriction in order to attain the objective of self-criticism. We firmly believe in the need for internal reviews. They are the method by which management keeps itself informed on the way large and complex activities are being carried out. Effective management should take vigorous corrective action on any deficiencies disclosed. We do not accept the concept, however, that an effective program of self-evaluation and management improvement must be dependent upon restricting the information developed to the individuals or department responsible for the activity under examination. Such information is of great importance to higher administrative levels and to other responsible officials having a legitimate interest or concern in the subject. Withholding information permits concealment of adverse conditions by those basically responsible. It also permits delay and laxity in effecting improvements. The denial by any official or organization of information developed in its internal reviews to any higher authority or any other official properly concerned either hampers any external review or independent consideration of the effectiveness and efficiency of the activities, or necessitates a duplication of costs in making similar reviews. This is in itself an unjustifiable waste of the taxpayers' money. We cannot fully discharge our statutory responsibilities without access to the reports resulting from internal reviews of administrative practices and activities made by inspector general, auditor general, and other management survey teams. The congressional policy is set forth in section 111(d) of the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 which provides that our audit will be directed, among other things, to determining the adequacy of the agencies' internal financial control over operations. Also, the subjects covered in the report which has been denied us represent internal management evaluations which are clearly a part of "internal audit and control" within section 117(a) of the Accounting and Auditing Act of 1950 and so specifically required to be considered by the Comptroller General in the conduct of his audits. Such information and factual data should not be withheld or subject to procedures designed to screen official documents, papers, or records before being made available to the General Accounting Office. This matter is also being reported to the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, U.S. Senate, and to the chairman of the Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Government Operations, the Special Subcommittee No. 6, Committee on Armed Services, and the Special Government Information Subcommittee, Committee on Government Operations, House of Representatives. We are advising the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of the Air Force that we are unable to properly discharge our statutory responsibilities if these reports are denied to our representatives in the performance of our audits. Sincerely yours, JOSEPH CAMPBELL, Comptroller General of the United States. EXHIBIT No. 12 [PUBLIC LAW 784-81ST CONGRESS] [H. R. 9038] AN ACT To authorize the President to determine the form of the national budget and of departmental estimates, to modernize and simplify governmental accounting and auditing methods and procedures, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Act may be cited as the "Budget and Accounting Procedures Act of 1950". TITLE I-BUDGETING AND ACCOUNTING PART I-BUDGETING SEC. 101. Section 2 of the Budget and Accounting Act, 1921 (42 Stat. 20), is amended by adding at the end thereof the following: "The term 'appropriations' includes, in appropriate context, funds and authorizations to create obligations by contract in advance of appropriations, or any other authority making funds available for obligation or expenditure." SEC. 102. (a) Section 201 of such Act is amended to read as follows: "SEC. 201. The President shall transmit to Congress during the first fifteen days of each regular session, the Budget, which shall set forth his Budget message, summary data and text, and supporting detail. The Budget shall set forth in such form and detail as the President may determine 66 "(a) functions and activities of the Government; "(c) a reconciliation of the summary data on expenditures with proposed appropriations; "(d) estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations necessary in his judgment for the support of the Government for the ensuing fiscal year, except that estimated expenditures and proposed appropriations for such year for the legislative branch of the Government and the Supreme Court of the United States shall be transmitted to the President on or before October 15 of each year, and shall be included by him in the Budget without revision; "(e) estimated receipts of the Government during the ensuing fiscal year, under (1) laws existing at the time the Budget is transmitted and also (2) under the revenue proposals, if any, contained in the Budget; "(f) actual appropriations, expenditures, and receipts of the Government during the last completed fiscal year; "(g) estimated expenditures and receipts, and actual or proposed appropriations of the Government during the fiscal year in progress; "(h) balanced statements of (1) the condition of the Treasury at the end of the last completed fiscal year, (2) the estimated con |